Nutritional value of collection accessions of awnless brome

Abstract

Awnless brome (Bromus inermis) is recognized as one of the best forage crops among perennial grasses. It is suitable for use under a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. When plant breeding is directed on the yield of herbage, the yield of digestible nutrients per hectare and their distribution during the growing period are very important. The involvement of wild forms in plant breeding gives a number of specific economic features necessary for the varieties of the hay and pasture purpose. The research goal was to investigate the content levels of total nitrogen, crude protein, and crude fiber in the collection accessions of awnless brome. The evaluation of the accessions was made in accordance with the methodological guidelines of the Federal Williams Research Center of Forage Production and Agroecology. Ten accessions from the Federal Research Center N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) were studied in the collection nursery of the awnless brome sown in 2015. Twenty-three wild accessions collected around the City of Kolpashevo were studied in the collection nursery of the awnless brome sown in 2017. The variety Langepas from the Tyumen Region was used as the standard. In the collection nursery sown in 2015, the nitrogen content in the accessions varied from 1.25% to 1.76% (V = 10.6%), crude protein - from 7.8% to 11.0% (V = 10.7%), crude fiber - from 30.40% to 37.04% (V = 6.28%). In the collection nursery of 2017, the total nitrogen content in the populations varied between 1.68% and 2.91% (V = 16.0%); crude protein - 10.5%-18.2% (V = 16.0%); crude fiber - 23.24%-34.08% (V = 10.5%). All the accessions were above the standard regarding total nitrogen and crude protein. Herbage nutritional value of the local wild populations is significantly higher than that of the VIR accessions. The coefficient of variation of the crude protein content (10.6-16.0%) in the studied collections was greater than the fiber content (6.28-10.5%). The diversity of both characters is higher in the collection of wild accessions. The accessions with high nutritional value were selected from a wide variety of wild material in the collection nurseries which were used as a source material for plant breeding (К-14301, 14332, 14344, and 14347).