Resource and energy conservation in the creation of highly productive pastures in the non-Chernozem zone of Russia

As a result of research in the Central region of the Non-Chernozem region, it was found that on sod-podzolic medium loamy soils, the seeding rate of the cocksfoot, fescue, and blue-grass grass mixture can be reduced by 50 %. In the second or third year of life, the proportion of seed components in the herbage was 90–93 %, the density of the herbage was 4.8–5.7 thousand shoots per 1 m2. With a 50 % reduction in the seeding rate, not only does the high productivity of pastures remain (97.8 GJ of exchange energy per 1 ha), but the feed quality also fully meets the feeding standards of cattle. The economy of seeds per hectare is 12 kg, energy costs are reduced by 250 MJ/ha. With a total energy consumption of 57.8 GJ/ha and productivity of 98–99 GJ/ha, the bioenergetic coefficient was 1.7, which indicates a high bioenergetic efficiency of reducing the sowing rate of the studied grass mixture. Energy savings due to halving the seeding rate amounted to 0.05 GJ/ha.