BEHAVIOR OF SOME LEGUMES SPECIES IN COMPLEX FORAGE MIXTURES

Abstract

Human pressure on ecosystems, through economic or other activities, has a negative impact on ecosystem biodiversity, soil and water quality. Solutions are being sought worldwide to obtain food for humans but also for their animals, without further demanding the productivity and biodiversity of ecosystems. Crop systems based on mixtures of species with legumes, carefully designed, ensure the maximization of economic and environmental benefits. The present paper aimed to make an analysis of the behavior of perennial legumes (Medicago sativa, Trifolium repens, Trifolium pratense) in complex mixtures, in the Banat Plain. From the analysis of eight complex mixtures with perennial legumes in various variants and proportions of participation, it follows that they behave differently in mixtures in the three experimental years, under the given conditions. Medicago sativa retains the proportion of participation with which it entered the mixture in the first year of culture. In the second year it reduces its participation in mixtures by 5%, and in the third year of culture by another 5%, in most of the studied mixtures. The red clover (Trifolium pratense) retains the proportion of participation with which it entered the mix in the first year of cultivation but undergoes changes in both the second and third year (2020). Thus, it reduced its participation in the M4 and M8 mixture by 5 percent in the second year of cultivation and recorded an increase of 4 percent in the M3 mixture. White clover (Trifolium repens) has a different behavior in mixtures compared to the other two perennial legumes. In the first year of cultivation it retains its proportion in the mixture. In the second year (2019) it increases its proportion in the mixture by 5% in the mixtures M3 and M6 and keeps its proportion in M7. In the third year it increases its participation by five percent in the M6 mixture and decreases the proportion of participation by 10% in the M7 mixture. The increase and decrease of the proportion in the mixtures is attributed to competition between species for food, water, light and crop management. To select a mixture, the grower should first determine the benefits he expects. The cultivation of these mixtures could bring significant increases in production and therefore economic profitability.