Efficiency of winter barley cultivation methods for herbage for bulk feed conservation

The article presents the results of the economic and bioenergetic assessment of winter barley cultivation methods for harvesting bulky fodder. In a short-term experiment the effect of five levels of mineral nutrition on two methods of tillage in the crop rotation link soybean – winter barley, on fused leached chernozems of the southern foothill zone of Adygea has been studied. Differentdepth methods of tillage have been used for 20–22 cm (plowing) and 12–16 cm (surface tillage). As a background on the variants, the main fertilizer ammophos and ammonium nitrate have been used as top dressings (N30; N45; N60). It has been revealed that the use of surface treatment reduces the yield of winter barley green mass by 21-41%. The average yield varied from 8.8 for surface tillage to 12.8 t/ha for plowing. The highest level of productivity is 19.2 for plowing and 12.0 t/ha for surface treatment. It has been revealed that the green mass of the studied varieties of winter barley in 1 kg of natural feed contains, on average, from 0.42 to 0.605 EFU (energy feed units). Analysis of the nutritional value of the obtained green mass has shown: in 1 kg of dry matter of feed for plowing: crude protein 10.1%, exchange energy 11.72 MJ, feed units (Ke) 1.12; for surface treatment – 8.8%, 11.72 MJ, 1.13 (Ke). The highest yield has been formed according to the cultivation method, with the introduction of 60 kg of a.i. N by background (N24 P104) – by plowing. The most profitable plowing option is: Background + N60 (Romans variety), with a yield of 19.2 t / ha, the profit from the sale is 10603.8 thousand rubles, the profitability level is 58.3%. Bioenergetic assessment of cultivation methods has shown that for each unit of energy invested in the production of winter barley green mass, on the best options, from 2.75 to 2.92 units of energy have been obtained.