Perennial grasses have a leading role in the production of environmentally safe crop products, high protein feed and soil fertility restoration. The paper investigates the accumulation of root mass due to the composition of the mixture and fertilizer.
The aim of the study was to determine the amount of root residues depending on the composition of the mixture and the accumulation of the root mass of birdsfoot trefoil mixed with timothy grass, depending on the fertilizer.
The amount of root residuals that arrived in the soil was determined by weather conditions, the characteristic features of perennial grasses and the method of fertilizing the grass. So, the largest number of root residuals in the soil after the third year of use of the grass remained on the grass mixture of birdsfoot trefoil mixed with tall fescue – 9.84–9.95 t/ha. The cultivation of the grass mixture of the birdsfoot trefoil with smooth brome contributed to an increase in the amount of root mass by 0.42–0.80 t/ha compared with the cultivation of the grass mixture of birdsfoot trefoil mixed with timothy grass. Under the conditions of the research, crested wheatgrass completely fell out in the first year of life. Therefore, in the future, a birdsfoot trefoil and motley grass was formed, after three years of use, the smallest number of root residuals accumulated in the experiment – 7.16–7.36 t/ha.
The increase in the root mass on the birdsfoot trefoil grass with timothy grass was mainly due to phosphorus fertilizer. So, if 8.69 t/ha of dry root weight accumulated in the control, the application of 60 kg/ha of the active substance of phosphate fertilizers contributed to an increase of this index to 10.02 t/ha. Under the influence of seed inoculation with Rizobophyte, the amount of root mass grew only by 0.07 t/ha. The largest amount of root mass (10.09 t/ha) was fixed on the variant, where phosphorus fertilizer was applied at a dose of Р60 and pre-sowing inoculation of the birdsfoot trefoil seeds with Rizobophyte was carried out.
An important indicator is the ratio of the mass of the aboveground and underground organs of perennial grasses. The highest (1 : 1.27) ratio of aboveground mass of birdsfoot trefoil and timothy grass meadow to the underground mass was in the version without fertilizer. With the inoculation of the birdsfoot trefoil seeds with Rizobophyte, the amount of root mass was 1.2 times higher than the collection of dry weight of the feed (aboveground mass).
Key words
birdsfoot trefoil, timothy grass, grass mix, fertilizer, root mass