Productivity and fodder value of perennial legume and legume-grass mixtures under cover of vetch-oat mixture were studied in 2009-2010 in Kirov Region, Russia. Cover mixture consisted of spring vetch cv. Orlovskaya 4 and oat cv. Ulov with sowing rate of 0.12 and 0.06 t/ha, respectively. Red clover cv. Kirovskii 159, birds-foot trefoil cv. Solnyshko and cooksfoot cv. Khlynovskaya were used as undercrop mixture in following combinations: (1) red clover, (2) red clover + birds-foot trefoil, (3) birds-foot trefoil, (4) red clover + cooksfoot, (5) red clover + birds-foot trefoil + cooksfoot. Data on dry mass yield and number of fodder units per kg of dry mass for cover mixture and unvercover crops, as well as crude protein and cellulose content for unvercover crops are summarized in 2 tables. Productivity of cover mixture and unvercover crops varied from 3.81 to 4.18 t/ha, and from 3.86 and to 4.80 t/ha respectively with no significant difference between variants. The highest crude protein content of 17.2% was achieved in variant (3), but again with no significant difference between variants. Authors concluded that further work will be needed to achieve the high and balanced yield of cover and unvercover crops.
