Efficiency of using oats and pea-oat mixture as cover crops for cultivating creeping alfalfa

Abstract

When sowing alfalfa, both oats and a pea-oat mixture can be used as cover crops. Alfalfa germination rate under the cover of oats was 60–69 %, and under the pea-oat mixture – 59–69 %. A longer stay of alfalfa under the cover reduced its mass from 0,14 grams to 0,06–0,08 grams. Alfalfa wintering of the first year of life from under the cover of oats amounted to 92 %, and peaoat mixture – 90 %. An increase in the seeding rate of alfalfa from 4,5 to 10,5 million pcs. germinating seeds per 1 ha did not affect the yield of sowing alfalfa. The cover crop harvesting period on average for four years of use did not affect the yield of green mass, dry weight, the collection of crude protein and the exchange energy of sowing alfalfa.