Unsystematic grazing of animals and continuous use of pastures leads to their degradation and, accordingly, to a shortage of pasture forage for the production of competitive environmentally friendly livestock products. The proportion of productive grasses in grass covers is decreasing; therefore, there is an urgent need to preserve valuable plant species in pasture grass, restore the productivity of natural vegetation and enrich it with valuable grasses. This study evaluated the impact of the unsystematic grazing method and a developed pasture rotation scheme on the height of the herbage and the productivity of seasonal pasture plots. The study was conducted as an experiment in the Arshaly district of the Akmola region located in the northern part of Kazakhstan. In 2019, unsystematic grazing of animals was carried out on the studied contours of the pasture. The animals grazed without alternating pastures and, as a result, the plants were subjected to intensive grazing for long periods or without sufficient recovery periods. In 2020, there was rotational grazing, where cattle grazed in different areas according to the seasons using a certain pasture rotation. As a result of the conducted study, it was found that with pasture rotation, the height of the herbage increased from 9.56±2.94 to 16.42±5.65 cm. The productivity of pastures after grazing decreased sharply but in the following season, the grassland recovered from 0.77±0.22 to 0.91±0.4 t/ha and exceeded the indicators of unsystematic grazing.
Integrating cover crops into crop rotation could provide options for herbicide-resistant weed control in farming systems. To evaluate the potential effectiveness of spring-planted cover crop oats (Avena sativa L.) on weed suppression, productivity, and feed quality of annual forage crops as sole crops and intercrops in order to determine the best agroecological technique, two-year experiments were laid out under arid conditions in the Akmolinsk region in northern Kazakhstan. Three annual forage crops, namely, (Piper) Stapf.-Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense) (control), common millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), and Japanese millet (Echinochloa frumentacea L.), and three annual intercropping systems, i.e., 50% pea (Pisum sativum L.) + 50% barley (Hordeum vulgare L.); 40% pea (Pisum sativum L.) + 30% (Piper) Stapf.-Sudan grass (Sorghum Sudanense) + 30% barley (Hordeum vulgare L.); and 50% pea (Pisum sativum L.) + 50% (Piper) Stapf.-sudan grass (Sorghum Sudanense), as well as the six mentioned treatments with the sole crops and intercrops plus cover crop oats (Avena sativa L.) were used. Japanese millet is a promising newly introduced crop in northern Kazakhstan. It was revealed that the cover crop significantly reduced weed density in the forage sole crops and their intercrops. In all cases, integrating the cover crop with annual forage crops showed higher quality and productivity than non-covered treatments. A highly productive annual crop grown with and without cover intercrop was Sudan grass. The highest yield among the three intercropping systems was recorded with the intercrop constituting 40% pea + 30% Sudan grass + 30% barley. The crude protein content was higher in biomass from sole crops and intercrops constituting cover crops. The overall view was that the use of oats as a cover crop on sole annual forage crops and their intercrops including methods that could be integrated with chemical and non-chemical methods in the field could be a valuable way to reduce weed pressure and improve quality and productivity during the vegetation period.
One of the reasons hindering the growth of the goat population is the low feed base for the year-round provision of animals with adequate feed, and in the Akmola region (Kazakhstan), this is also caused by severe soil and climatic conditions with a lack of heat and moisture during the growing season of forage crops. Therefore, to solve this problem, it is necessary to create raw material conveyors for goat farms based on the rational management of natural feed resources, taking into account the peculiarities of soil and climatic zones of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This paper presents a comparative assessment of the yield and nutritional value of the types of annual and perennial feed crops used in the raw material conveyor system for the year-round provision of complete feed for dairy goats with a productivity of 3-4 kg of milk per day. The studies were conducted in the Tselinograd district (51°09'08.8"N 71°10'10.5"E) of the Akmola region (2020-2021), which is located in the northern part of Kazakhstan. The need for feed types was calculated taking into account the daily feeding rations of animals, and the types, varieties, and hybrids of forage crops were selected taking into account the bioclimatic potential of forage crops and the socioeconomic conditions of the goat farm. The scheme of the raw material conveyor with the selection of sites has been developed, and the chemical composition and nutritional value of annual and perennial forage crops have been studied. The results of the study show the need to create raw material conveyors with the selection of species and varieties from perennial and annual forage crops in pure form and grass mixtures, providing an output from a unit area of coarse feed from 0.95 to 3.8 tons with a nutritional value on average from 7.05 to 10.9 MJ/kg of exchange energy and from 0.53 to 0.96 feed units.
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