Studying the Source Material for Yellow Melilot Selection

Abstract

Creation of a system that ensures stable and complete feeding of farm animals is important for an effective development of animal husbandry in Stavropol Territory. Science established and practice confirmed that to organize healthy functioning of animals and their high productivity, it is necessary to have at least 105-110 g of digestible protein per feed unit. However, due to the current use of feed mainly consisting of cereals, there is a deficiency of protein, which is balanced by fodder grains. The lack of protein and its quality in feed has an extremely negative effect on the health of animals, reduces their productivity, impairs reproduction, disrupts metabolism and leads to overspending of feed, and, consequently, to an increase in the cost of livestock products. For the effective use of saline soils, which in the Stavropol Territory account for 24.8% of the total area, it is necessary to select field crops that give high yields of fodder rich in digestible protein, as well as to improve the structure of saline soils by enriching them with ecologically clean nitrogen that does not cause acidification. The legume crop of yellow melilot can become such a crop. Solving the problem of organic farming, it is necessary to expand the assortment of yellow melilot to create a solid fodder base, to use it as the best forecrop and break crop in grain crop rotations. Therefore, the study of some collection material of yellow melilot on leached black soils and the selection of promising samples is relevant for further selection work to create new varieties. A study of the seed material samples of yellow melilot from the VIR collection of different geographical origins was carried out according to the presence of hard seeds; samples with low and high content of them were established. The sowing qualities of yellow melilot collection samples were studied in laboratory conditions. The growth dynamics of the yellow melilot samples was studied, and decades of the maximum daily growth of yellow melilot were established. A high yield of yellow melilot samples in the first and second year of life was shown. The quantitative composition of main nutrients in the fodder mass of the yellow melilot samples of different geographical origins was established. For the conditions of the Stavropol Territory, it is necessary to select samples with economically valuable biological characteristics that can provide high rates of linear growth of green mass before the onset of summer drought.