SELECTION OF PERENNIAL GRASSES FOR FAST RESTORATION OF LOW-YIELDING PASTURES AND HAYFIELDS

Abstract

The development of beef farming is a priority task of the agro-industrial complex of
the South of Russia, the functioning of which is impossible without good fodder supplies,
including natural ones – pastures and hayfields, which occupy vast areas in the Stavropol
Territory. However, there is constant uncontrolled anthropogenic negative impact on the
biological diversity of pastures and hayfields, which are represented by species of legumes,
grasses, and a rich group of mixed herbs. Eventually, the loss of this biological diversity leads
to the transformation of natural forage lands into secondary steppes, which are characterized
by low feeding quality. As a result, due to ignorant anthropogenic influence, up to 300
thousand hectares of hayfields and pastures were subjected to desertification in the zone of
dry steppes. For this reason, it is necessary to take immediate measures that can increase the
productivity and quality of natural forage lands, stabilize pastoralism and prevent further
desertification of the territory and soil degradation. In order to do this, during improving the
land, it is necessary to use adapted perennial legumes and grasses which provide harvest
stabilization over the years, good recovery ability, and long vegetation in autumn. The
researches into the fast restoration of low-yielding perennial forage lands were carried out on
the basis of the breeding farm “Druzhba” in 2013-2018. (establishment in 2013 and 2014),
located on the territory of the Apanasenkovsky District of the Stavropol Territory. The district
belongs to an extremely arid zone. With the help of experiments it has been found that the use
of simplificated improvement increases the total farm inputs by 1.38-2.38 times, however,
they are more than compensated by the additional harvest, reducing the cost per unit by 1.9-
2.5 times.