Perennial Leguminous Grasses

Classification

By duration of use, perennial leguminous grasses are divided into:

• biennial;
• short-lived, with a period of use of 2–3 years;
• medium-longevity;
• long-lived.

By type of development:

• winter;
• semi-winter;
• spring.

By early maturity:

• very early;
• early;
• medium;
• late.

Perennial leguminous grasses can also be subdivided by the composition and form of shoots, the nature of leafiness, height, and arrangement of leaves into top, semi-top, and bottom grasses. Top perennial leguminous grasses are tall plants with generative and elongated vegetative shoots, evenly leafy along their height and used mainly for hay.

Bottom grasses are low-growing plants with a small number of generative shoots and a large number of shortened vegetative shoots. They are used as pasture crops.

Semi-top grasses occupy an intermediate position between top and bottom grasses and are distinguished by combined use (haymaking and pasture).

By the character of shoot formation, they are divided into:

• rhizomatous: during development from the root collar of the main and secondary shoots, rhizomes extend, from which aboveground shoots are formed;
• root-suckering: during development from a vertical shortened root, horizontal roots with renewal buds are formed, from which aboveground shoots develop;
• taprooted (bushy): during development from the vertical (usually thickened) main root, branching lateral shoots extend; aboveground shoots are formed from buds of the root collar and shoots;
• creeping: during development from the root collar, horizontal shoot-stems are formed, located above the soil surface.

Main Crops

Main crops:

• clover (white clover (Trifolium repens), red clover (Trifolium pratense), hybrid clover (Trifolium hybridum), lupine clover (Trifolium lupinaster));
• alfalfa (common alfalfa (Medicago sativa), yellow alfalfa (Medicago falcata));
• sainfoin (Onobrychis sp.);
• sweet clover (Melilotus sp.);
• goat's rue (Galega) (Galega sp.);
• bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).

Promising species of perennial leguminous grasses used in agriculture also include:

• marsh astragalus (Astragalus umbellatus), variety Chernysh;
• Grossheim's vetch, variety Doriyskaya;
• mouse vetch (Vícia cracca), variety Srednevolzhskaya 98;
• fragrant sweet clover, variety Ononsky;
• black medick (Medicago lupulina), variety Mira;
• bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), varieties Smolensky 1, Luch, and Solnyshko;
• peavine forest peavine (Lathyrus sylvestris), variety Povolzhskaya 94.

Significance

Leguminous crops in forage grass sowings should be the basis of the fodder base. They provide animals with fresh grass in summer and preserved feed (hay, haylage, silage) in winter.

In nutritional value, 1 kg of dry matter of grasses is not inferior to oats grain. In protein, essential amino acids, and carotene content, leguminous grasses surpass other feeds, somewhat inferior to oilcakes.

With sufficient moisture, they regrow quickly after cutting the aboveground mass, giving several cuts or grazing cycles during the summer. Therefore, their cultivation makes it possible to organize a continuous supply of green fodder during periods when natural hayfields and pastures cannot meet the needs of livestock farming.

Leguminous grasses have a great effect on restoring soil fertility: they promote the accumulation of organic matter and nitrogen, improve water-physical properties, and reduce the risk of soil erosion. The root system of leguminous grasses drains deep soil layers, absorbing mineral nutrients from them that are difficult for other plants to access, and transfers them to the upper layers. For this reason, they serve as good predecessors for many field crops in crop rotation. With insufficient application of organic and mineral fertilizers, the role of leguminous grasses in maintaining and reproducing fertility increases sharply.

Perennial leguminous grasses can be grown in field, forage, soil-protective, vegetable, and other types of crop rotations, as well as in diversion fields and on sloping lands.

Leguminous grasses in modern agriculture can be considered one of the directions of ecologization, biologization, and environmental improvement.

Currently, leguminous grasses are cultivated in mixtures with cereal species for reserving low-fertility arable lands through permanent sodding, not only for economic use of lands, for example, as hayfields and pastures, but also for allocating special plots for wild animals. For these purposes, usually low-value plots are allocated, for example, heavily eroded, waterlogged, saline, stony, sandy, as well as lands located near farms and settlements for placing pastures and hayfields for personal subsidiary farms.

Compared with cereal grasses, the quality of feed from legumes is higher, with increased content of protein, vitamins, and minerals. In the second half of the 20th century in the USSR, pure sowings of cereal grasses were widespread; however, due to the rise in the cost of mineral fertilizers, they are more likely used as an exception. In modern field grass cultivation, legume-cereal grass mixtures predominate. Their yields are usually equal to or exceed single-species sowings; they better withstand unfavorable weather conditions, and they are more durable due to replacement by cereal species of legumes dropping out of the herbage.

List of Sources

1. Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S. et al. (1986). Crop Production. Ed. by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
2. Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Crop Production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobusinesscenter.
3. Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of Agricultural Production Technology. Agriculture and Crop Production. Moscow: “Bylina”.