Use of Intermediate Crops to Increase Productivity of Irrigated Arable Land in Southeastern Kazakhstan

Abstract

The results of the study open up fundamentally new areas of intensive use of irrigated land in the southern and south-eastern Kazakhstan, ensuring harvest of two crops per year. For the first time, a technology for creating a green conveyor based on the bioclimatic potential of the growing area has been developed. By taking into account agro-climatic conditions we determined climatic requirements of plants suitable for harvesting two crops per year. The aim of the research was to increase productivity of irrigated land, by using intermediate crops to produce two harvests per year and to create a green conveyor to provide the livestock industry with highly nutritious green fod-der. The research was carried out at the experimental and production station of the research, production, and educational center of Bayserke-Agro LLP of the Talgar district of the Almaty region, on light chestnut soils. The main crops, winter rapeseed and triticale, grew since early spring. In the phase of full flowering, rapeseed accumulated 6,760 g of green biomass per m 2 , and in the phase of grain setting, winter triticale accumulated 6,480 g of green biomass per m 2 . In the rapeseed flowering phase, the yield of green biomass reached 676 centners per hectare, and that of triticale, 648 centners per hectare. The yield of the ripe rapeseed grain was 25.2 centners per hectare, and that of triticale, 63.8 centners per hectare. The intermediate crop, corn for grain, can complete its vegetation after harvesting rapeseed and triticale for green biomass. An additional grain crop amounts to 73.0 centners per hectare, and an additional green biomass yield for silage, to 720 centners per hectare. By sowing intermediate crops, it is possible to harvest larger amounts of fodder from irrigated arable land. In the option without intermediate crops, the total harvest of feed units was 67.9 centners per hectare, and in the option with sowing corn as an intermediate crop for silage and grain. The results showed that the highest net income of 143.8–160.8 thousand tenge per hectare and the profitability level of 89.8–97.5% were obtained when sowing intermediate crops after harvesting winter rapeseed and triticale.