ECONOMIC VALUE OF SOME LEGUMINOUS PLANT SPECIES OF THE COLLECTIONS FROM THE BOTANICAL GARDEN (INSTITUTE) OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF MOLDOVA

Abstract

The results of the evaluation of the growth and development rates, the seed productivity, the green mass yield, the biochemical composition and the content of amino acids, phosphorous and calcium, the nutritive and energy value of the forage, as well as the biomethane productivity of local ecotypes of the leguminous species maintained in monoculture, in the collection of the Botanical Garden (Institute) of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (BG ASM): Astragalus ponticus, Coronilla varia, Lotus corniculatus, Medicago falcata, Onobrychis arenaria and Trifolium repens are presented in this article. Control variants – the traditional forage crops: Medicago sativa and Onobrychis viciifolia. The local ecotypes of the studied leguminous species were characterized by different growth and development rates. Coronilla varia and Lotus corniculatus, in the 2nd-3rd years, could be harvested, for the first time, 5 days earlier than Medicago sativa, but Medicago falcata and Onobrychis viciifolia – 18 days later. The green mass yield varied from 0.83 kg/m2 to 4.08 kg/m2. The studied ecotypes reached amounts of 0.60-0.89 nutritive units/kg and metabolizable energy 8.05-9.90 MJ/kg of dry matter, the content of digestible protein, of 106.28-225.09 g/nutritive unit, met the zootechnical standards; seed production: 19.12-83.00 g/m2; the biomethane yield ranged from 692 to 3197 m3/ha. Higher yield of natural forage, dry matter and biomethane was produced by Onobrychis arenaria and Coronilla varia.

Keywords

• biochemical composition
• biological peculiarities
• economic value
• perennial leguminous species