The productivity and chemical composition of wild growing sainfoin (Onobrychis Mill.) in mountain steppe of Armenia

About the authors:

Marine A. Navasardyan, Cand. Sci. (Biol.), Researcher, Department of Bioenergy and Feed Supplies, Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia; marine.navasardyan@cens.am

Bagrat K. Mezhunts, Dr. Sci. (Agricult.), Head of the Department of Bioenergy and Feed Supplies, Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia; bagrat.mezhunts@cens.am

Abstract:

The paper summarizes the results of field and laboratory studies on productivity and nutritive value of three wild-growing sainfoin fodder plants: Onobrychis transcaucasica Grossh., O. altissima Grossh. and O. bungei Boiss. growing at 8 experimental sites of dry and meadow steppe zones (1300-2200 m above sea level). The analysis of obtained data shows that aboveground biomass of the studied plant species is varying within 12.5-24.2 g/plant with the maximum value observed mainly in meadow steppe zone. At the same time, the highest indices of leaf proportion (31-35%) and leaf/stem ratio (0.66-0.79) for the three studied species are in dry steppe zone. It is revealed the range of fluctuations of the content of crude protein, fat, fiber, calcium, and phosphorus according to the species and sites which consist of 15.7-22.1%, 2.3-3.5%, 20.3-29.5%, 0.5-0.7% and 2.0-4.1% correspondingly, Meanwhile, O. transcaucasica is showing some advantages of crude protein and O. аltissima — of cellulose content, but there has not been observed a clear pattern in variation of plants biomass quality indices according to the conditions of their habitat.

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