Effect of Biotorfin inoculation of legume grass seeds on forage chemical composition in the Republic of Tyva

Abstract

The findings of the research conducted from 2022 through 2024 in the experimental field of the Tuvan Research Institute of Agriculture on the effect of inoculation of legume grass seeds with the microbiological product Biotorfin-B are discussed. The research targets were perennial legume grasses as alfalfa, sainfoin, and yellow sweet clover. The research was conducted using the following variants: control (no inoculation), and inoculation with Biotorfin-B microbiological product. The experiments and calculations were conducted using standard methodology. According to the meteorological conditions, the years of research were characterized as dry: the hydrothermal coefficient (HTC) was -0.78 in 2022; -0.99 in 2023; and -0.45 in 2024. The driest year was 2024 when only 137 mm of precipitation fell during the growing season which was 1.76 times lower than the long-term average. Over three years of research, it was found that the effect of Biotorfin-B on the studied crops was inconsistent. The chemical composition and nutritional value of the forage varied depending on the plant species and the meteorological conditions during the growing season. Alfalfa turned out to be the most responsive crop: on the favorable years of 2022 and 2023, inoculation significantly increased the content of dry matter (3.03% and 3.01%) and crude protein. For sainfoin and sweet clover, the increase of protein and dry matter content was not significantly different. The most pronounced decrease in nutritional value and energy content was observed in othe extremely dry year of 2024, when low values were recorded for crude protein content. The studies on the use of Biotorfin-B indicated that sainfoin had the highest nutritional value and energy content as well as the highest content of digestible protein per fodder unit: 0.65-0.66 fodder units and 9.09-9.01 MJ, - 154g, respectively.