Impact of modern technology on the development of fodder production in the European north of the Russian Federation

The article presents the findings of scientific research carried out at the Northwestern Dairy Farming and Grassland Management Research Institute on improving the development of fodder production on the basis of modern technologies of growing forage crops and fodder production in order to improve the productivity and nutritional value of plant raw materials in the European North of Russia. Among fodder crops priority is given to perennial legumes. The Institute developed a technology for cultivation of Eastern galega, Medicago varia, Lotus corniculatus, and red clover in single-species and mixed crops. Technologies for cultivation of annual forage crops such as corn, a new variety of field pea “Vologodskii usatyi” in single-species and mixed crops are studied. To improve the efficiency of grain fodder production, the Institute has developed a technology for storing wet rolled grain. The purpose of the research is to substantiate scientifically the use of modern technologies of growing forage crops and fodder procurement for the development of feed production in the European North of the Russian Federation. The following tasks were solved: generalization of the results of field experiments on the development of technologies for growing perennial grasses, legumes, maize; experiments on forage harvesting technologies on the basis of grain mixtures and conservation of perennial grasses. The studies found that effective technological methods for cultivation of forage crops help increase their productivity up to seven thousand fodder units per ha and obtain fodderwith increased protein content (13-21%). The technology of growing grain crops during harvesting in the phase of the beginning of middle dough stage helps increase productivity by 15-25% and to procure fodder with fat and protein content increased by 10-30%. The use of the optimal timing of mowing in the early phases of development (budding of the legumes) makes it possible to harvest silage with a concentration of metabolizable energy at 10 MJ per 1 kg of DM. Currently, research is conducted to develop resource-saving technology for creating highly productive agrophytocenoses of perennial grasses of different ripening periods in the European North of the Russian Federation.