Estimation of productivity and quality of forage of the sainfoin varieties and promising lines

Abstract

   The purpose of the current study was to estimate productivity and quality of forage of the sainfoin varieties and promising lines.

   The study was conducted from 2021 to 2024, focusing on five zoned varieties and six promising lines of sainfoin, including the standard variety ‘Zernogradsky 2’.

   The study was conducted in the competitive variety testing nurseries. On average, the standard variety produced 23.0 t/ha green mass over the entire period of the study. The varieties ‘Veles’ (25.5 t/ha), ‘Atamansky 20’ (27.1 t/ha), and all studied lines (25.4–30.2 t/ha) significantly exceeded the standard. The standard variety had a mean plant height of 100 cm, the lines ‘Sin 6/93’ (105 cm), ‘Sin 7/93’ (104 cm), ‘Sin 23/93’ (104 cm), and ‘Sin 3/2015’ (107 cm) had a significant increase, the remaining varieties and lines were either at or significantly below the standard. The foliage of the studied varieties and lines ranged from 40 % to 48 % on average over the three cycles of the study. The hay yield of the standard variety averaged 21 %. A significant excess was identified in the varieties ‘Veles’ and ‘Sudar’ (23 and 24 %), as well as in the lines ‘Sin 7/93’ and ‘Sin 3/2015’ (24 and 23 %). Hay yields averaged 4.8–6.9 t/ha over the three cycles. The line ‘Sin 3/2015’ was of the largest productivity with 6.9 t/ha. On average, crude protein percentage in the studied varieties and lines was quite high over all years of study, varying between 15.99–22.24 %. The conducted analysis of the correlations of the studied traits with green mass productivity has shown a strong positive correlation (r = 0.81 ± 0.06) of hay yield, mean positive correlations of plant height (r = 0.61 ± 0.08), foliage (r = 0.46 ± 0.09) and crude protein (r = 0.62 ± 0.08).