THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF GRASS STANDS OF MEADOW CLOVER UNDER COVER CULTIVATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE RIGHT-BANK FOREST STEPPE

Meadow clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is one of the most valuable fodder plants in the world. To increase the production of high-protein plant resources in Ukraine, it is advisable to expand the planting of perennial leguminous grasses and improve the technologies of their cultivation for fodder purposes in the regions. Due to this, the need for feed protein can be fully met. In the conditions of the forest-steppe zone, meadow clover takes the main place among leguminous grasses in field and meadow grass sowing. Clover crops make it possible to provide livestock with complete feed and partially solve the problem of protein deficiency in diets. According to the recommendations of a number of authors, the terms of sowing meadow clover in the forest-steppe zone coincide with the terms of sowing a cover crop, that is, it allows early spring sowing - under-cover. n the conditions of the region, studies on the influence of cover crops and their sowing rates during under-cover cultivation of meadow clover have been carried out extremely insufficiently. The purpose of the research is to study the influence of cover crops on the growth and development of meadow clover and the yield of green mass. Experimental data on the cultivation of meadow clover for seeds and green mass in the conditions of the right-bank forest-steppe were obtained. It was determined that when growing meadow clover under a cover of spring barley in crops of the first year of life, clogging is reduced, coverless crops of clover provide the highest yield of green mass and seeds with the best sowing qualities. The conducted studies showed that, on average, in the chain of crop rotation, the cover crop - clovers of the second year of life provided the maximum yield of dry fodder with meadow clover sown under millet with the minimum (2.5 million/ha) rate of seed sowing - 97.8 t/ha. The total collection of green fodder on this option was also the highest - 785 tons. That is, barley, as a cover crop for meadow clover, physiologically turned out to be worse.