Meadow farming

A. M. Dmitriev distinguishes four periods in the history of meadow cultivation and meadow science.

The period of primeval pasture meadow use

The history of meadow farming begins in antiquity, when cattle grazed in meadows throughout the year (in the winter months animals harvested surviving stems and leaves of grasses, often from under the snow). This form of foraging has been preserved in our days in the form of grazing deer in the tundra , horses , sheep and camels in the pastures of Central Asia , the Caucasus and other places. During this period, the simplest use of natural forage land was associated with the domestication of wild animals. When grazing cattle, a man, watching the grazing, evaluated pasture and individual fodder plants , singling out from them eatable and non-eatable, and subsequently harmful and toxic to animals . A person has developed the ability to intelligently choose pastures for livestock. Pasture productivity under such conditions of keeping animals fell over time.

Hayfields

In summer, cattle grazed in meadows, but already made a supply of feed for the winter ( hay , twig, straw and chaff ). During this period, the best grass stands were assigned for hayfields, and the worst and more distant ones were assigned for pasture. Thus, the beginning was made of the distinction between hay and pasture use of meadows . Harvesting of food for the winter began primarily where there was a lot of snow, which prevented grass grazing. So, among the Eastern Slavs in the XI - XII centuries, haymaking became commonplace.

Along with natural grasses , fodder plants introduced into the culture gradually began to play some role in fodder production. In the 18th century, in the northern forest regions of Russia, after burning forests and shrubs , they sowed Timothy grass meadow (it was cultivated and distributed by the American Timothy Hanson, by whose name she got her name).

The period of capitalism in Russia of the XIX century

It was characterized by the development of meadow farming under capitalism , which required an increase in marketability of livestock . Strengthening the food supply required improving meadows and introducing field grasslands, since the productivity of natural hayfields and pastures was low. At the beginning of the 20th century, grazing and mowing of fodder land began to be practiced - along with grazing in the summer, hay was harvested for winter. The best grass stands close to farm buildings were allocated for hayfields, the worst and more distant grasslands. Attempts were made to switch to rational forms of use of forage land. By 1913, the acreage of grass and forage crops reached 3.3 million hectares . This period is characterized by the transition to rational forms of use of natural forage land.

Meadow farming as a science in Russia took shape in the late XIX - early XX centuries. At first, pilot work on meadow cultivation was carried out as a private initiative, then the Department of Agriculture, provincial and district zemstvos began to do this. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first experimental stations were organized (Baltic in Estonia, Minsk in Belarus, Novgorod and Volyn) and experimental stations that conducted meadow research. In 1912, on the initiative of V.R. Williams and A.M. Dmitriev, on the basis of higher courses of meadow cultivation at Petrovsky Agricultural The Academy established a meadow demonstration farm for the study of fodder plants, and in 1922 the State Meadow Institute was organized (now the All-Russian Research Institute of Feed named after V.R. Williams of the Russian Agricultural Academy).

Collective Agriculture Period

It was characterized by the application of scientific achievements and technology in meadow farming, the large-scale creation of cultivated hayfields and pastures. In the USSR, systematic work on the development of grassland farming began during the period of collectivization. Carrying out a set of organizational and technical measures (cultural work, drainage, irrigation, irrigation, agronomic measures, etc.) and the introduction of progressive techniques and technologies in all zones allowed us to transform part of the area of ​​natural forage land into highly productive hayfields and pastures, and to create cultural pastures. The radical reorganization of degenerated forage land allows farms to receive 4-6 thousand feed units per hectare (with irrigation - over 10 thousand).

Under the leadership of L. G. Ramensky, an inventory of the natural forage lands of the USSR was carried out. A fundamental work has been created, including a description of the biological characteristics and economic value of about 4,500 fodder plants (“Forage Plants for Haymaking and Pastures of the USSR”, edited by I.V. Larin , M. —L., T. 1-3, 1950–56), methods have been developed for the superficial and radical improvement of natural fodder lands, the creation of cultivated hayfields and pastures in different zones of the country, driven and portioned use of pastures, maintaining high productivity of improved fodder lands, efficient mountain meadow cultivation, and rational use zovaniya floodplain pastures, held events aimed at the intensification of grassland management.

Cereals

According to the nature of the shoot formation, the following main types of cereals are distinguished: rhizome, loam bush, rhizome-loam bush, dense bush.

• Rhizome cereals have underground shoots - rhizomes . The tillering node is located at a depth of 5–20 cm from the soil surface. From it are underground shoots in different directions at a distance of 2-3 cm to 1 m or more. From the kidneys of rhizomes, vertical aerial shoots are formed . Plants of this type of tillering quickly take up empty seats. Representatives: boneless rump , reed birch spruce , giant field polewort , creeping wheatgrass , common reed and others.
• Loose bush cereals have a tillering node at a depth of 1-5 cm from the soil surface. Each shoot lays its own tillering node, giving rise to a new generation of shoots, thus renewing and increasing the bush . They grow best on loose and nutrient-rich soils. Propagated mainly by seeds . Representatives: timothy grass meadow , fescue meadow , team hedgehog , tall ryegrass , Siberian flare and others.
• Rhizome-loosestrus cereals form shoots according to the type of rhizome and loosestrife. They form a dense network of small loose bushes connected with each other by short rhizomes. Tillering nodes at a depth of 2-3 cm. Form a good turf that can withstand livestock grazing. Representatives: meadow bluegrass, meadow foxtail , red fescue and others.
• Dense cereals have tillering nodes at a depth of 1-2 cm or on the surface of the soil. The internodes of the shoots are very short. The lateral shoots emerging from the tillering nodes grow parallel to one another and perpendicular to the soil surface, adhering closely to the mother shoot, form a very dense bush . Usually grow on poor soils. The appearance of dense cereals in the grass indicates the degeneration of the meadow . Representatives: meadow soddy , white sticking , hairy and others.

Legumes

Legumes differ from cereals in that their shoots or stems branch and form a bush . Legume groups differ in the nature of shoot formation.

• Shrub rooted have a well-developed main root . Overhead shoots form a branched loose bush . After flowering and fruiting, the stems die off, and in spring new stems form from the buds of the root neck. Representatives: meadow clover , sowing alfalfa , horned lamb , melilot and others.
• Legumes with creeping shoots . Horizontal shoots-stems extend from the root neck located at the very surface of the soil. They creep along the earth and form buds of leaves from the buds , and sometimes branching flower-bearing shoots, and additional roots in the soil. Representatives: creeping clover, strawberry clover .
• Legumes with short shoots . Leaves and peduncles extend directly from the root neck. A stemless, rosette , squat, unproductive plant develops.

Among legumes there are also rhizome and root-sprouting plants.

Sedges

The nature of shoot formation in sedge grasses is the same as in cereals. Among them, rhizomatous ( water sedge, desert sedge, early sedge, bloated sedge ), loose shrubs ( ordinary sedge, acute sedge ), and dense shrubs ( sedge soddy , Bellardi cobresia ) are distinguished .

Forbs

Among the plants of this group, according to the nature of their shoot formation, they distinguish: rooted ( goat borer , chicory , saxifrage , caraway seeds ), root shoots ( Austrian wormwood , euphorbiaceae , elecampane , field bindweed ), rhizome plants ( yarrow , coltsfoot , veronica yellow bedstraw ), bushy perennials with branched fibrous roots ( meadow cornflower , buttercups ), creeping (creeping buttercup , goose cinquefoil ), rosette ( middle plantain , marsh calf ), bulbous ( lilies , tulips , onions ) and tuber-shoots ( valerian tuberous , crested tuber ) plants.

• Plain meadows - occupy the highest parts of the relief . Sources of moisture - precipitation , runoff water.
• Lowlands - occupy lowlands, gullies , ravines , depressions. Sources of humidification are precipitation , runoff water, groundwater .
• Short-meadows - occupy parts of the valleys of medium and large rivers , flooded during floods for up to two weeks . Sources of humidification are precipitation , runoff water, flood water, groundwater (not always).
• Long-meadows - occupy parts of the valleys of medium and large rivers, flooded during floods for a period of more than two weeks. Sources of humidification are precipitation, runoff water, flood water, groundwater .
• Boggy meadows - occupy the lowest, boggy parts of the relief . Sources of humidification are precipitation, runoff water, flood water (if in a river valley), groundwater .

Surface improvement - improving the natural grass stand , in which the natural vegetation is fully or partially preserved, and creating better conditions for its growth and development, increasing the productivity of hayfields and pastures. For this, it is necessary to create the most favorable conditions for growth, that is, the creation of an optimal water and air regime. The surface improvement system includes the following activities:

• cultural work (clearing land from trees and shrubs, destroying bumps, clearing garbage);
• improvement and regulation of water regime;
• improving diet (fertilizer);
• care of turf and grasslands of meadows;
• improvement of forest and arrangement of meadow park pastures.
• A radical improvement - in place of the old grass stand, a new haymaking or pasture is created from valuable forage grasses.

Since 1927, international congresses on meadow cultivation have been regularly held. Below is a list of them ^[1] .

• Konyushkov N.S. Meadow farming // Big Soviet Encyclopedia . 3rd ed. / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1974. - T. 15. Lombard - Mesitol . - S. 46 .
• Rabotnov T.A. Meadow Studies // Big Soviet Encyclopedia . 3rd ed. / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1974. - T. 15. Lombard - Mesitol . - S. 45 .
• Meadow studies / Andreev N.G. Ed.2, ​​rev. and add. 1985.256 s.
• Meadow farming / V. A. Tuldyukov, N. G. Andrev, V. A. Voronkov and others; edited by V. A. Tyuldyukov. - M .: Kolos, 1995
• Glossary of terms for feed production / V. M. Kosolapov, I. A. Trofimov, L. S. Trofimova. - M .: Ugreshskaya Printing House, 2010

• Meadow forage production / N. G. Andreev
• Short course of lectures on meadow studies
• Department of meadow cultivation RGAU-MSHA them. Timiryazev