Cultivation of legume-grass mixtures on the basis of festulolium in the European North of Russia

The methods for grass stands creation and use with Festulolium bastard were studied on sod-podzolic soils, the peculiarities of yield formation in single-species and mixed crops were noted. The researches were carried out in 2012-2014 on the experimental field of the FSBSI «The North-West Research Institute for Dairy and Grassland Husbandry». The sustainability of the Festulolium interspecies hybrid was studied in two, three and four-compound herbage mixtures with a selection of legumes: red clover, variable alfalfa and bird’s-foot trefoil. The legume-grass mixtures exceeded significantly 1.3-1.6 times its single-crop sowing in productivity. The plant biomass of first cut at the beginning of festulolium heading and legumes’ budding had a higher protein, exchange energy content and less fibre.