The Effectiveness of Meadow Improvement by Mechanical Processing of Sod in Combination with Other Agricultural Practices in the North-West of the Russian Federation

Introduction For the Northwestern region of Russia, specializing in the production of dairy livestock products, the creation of highly productive meadow agrophytocenoses is of exceptional importance, since the natural conditions here are most consistent with the cultivation of perennial grasses for harvesting herbaceous fodder in a system of green and raw conveyor belts. The decisive role in this issue is played by perennial legumes, which surpass many fodder crops in terms of yield and protein productivity 1. However, grasses, which are a source of carbohydrates in raw materials, are important in obtaining a balanced feed. At the end of the twentieth century, its intensification based on the use of high doses of mineral nitrogen fertilizers and the multi-axis use of grass stands was relevant in meadow forage production 2. Currently, in conditions of limited resource availability, including mineral nitrogen fertilizers, the solution to the feed problem should be based on biologization, due to a more complete use of the potential of the plants themselves 3. The transformation of unproductive forage lands into high-yielding cultivated meadows by surface improvement techniques is currently one of the main tasks of the region's forage production. At the same time, the elimination of protein deficiency, mainly due to the lack of legumes in the herbage, remains an urgent problem in providing livestock with high-grade feed. The range of high protein forage crops can complement the eastern goat, which is characterized by high environmental friendliness combined with high longevity, but it develops very slowly in the first years after sowing, and therefore it is difficult to create highly productive herb stands from the first years of use based on the eastern goat 4. Among cereal grasses, meadow foxtail is a particular problem in creating highly productive meadows, which is also characterized by high longevity and high nutritional value, but due to the morphological characteristics of the seeds, it is practically not cultivated in the farms of the region. In this regard, the use and improvement of long-lived legume stand with eastern goat and grass stands with meadow foxtail in the conditions of the North-West of the Russian Federation is currently a problematic and urgent issue and represents a scientific novelty.