Growing forage grasses on the degraded lands in the Southern Steppe zone of Ukraine
Galyna Iutynska
, Raisa Vozhegova
, Stanislav Goloborodko
, Liudmyla Tytova
, Olena Dubynska
, Liudmyla Bilіavska
, Dragutin Đukić
, Monika Stojanova
Abstract: Intensive agricultural practices, prevalence of annual crops in crop rotations under simultaneous shrinking of sowing areas under perennial leguminous grasses and negative climate change have led to active soil degradation and desertification in the South of Ukraine. Fertility losses in degraded lands calls for immediate development of measures for the restoration of their productivity. The aim of the study was to develop technologies for growing highly productive perennial fodder grasses in conditions of insufficient natural moisture on degraded lands in the south of the Steppe zone of Ukraine. Field experiments were conducted under sowing cereal and leguminous perennial grasses with different duration of the plots conservation. In 1- to 5-year grass cultivation, sown with perennial leguminous grasses (alfalfa or sainfoin), the gross yield of absolutely dry matter reached 5.36 – 5.63 t/ha, the digestible protein yield was 0.84 – 0.97 t/ha. Under the long-term use (for 6 - 8 years), productivity of the herbages decreased. Seed inoculation of leguminous crops with symbiotic bacteria promotes increasing the productivity of grass stands and enrichment of the soil with nitrogen. Increasing the sowing area of leguminous grasses such as alfalfa and sainfoin, as well as their mixtures, combined with the use of new bio preparations, will help mitigate the catastrophic fertility losses and soil degradation in south of Ukraine, as well as reduce the impact of natural phenomena related to global and regional climate change.
Keywords: bio preparations; perennial grasses; soils fertility restoration
Citation: Iutynska, G., Vozhegova, R., Goloborodko, S., Tytova, L., Dubynska, O., Bilіavska, L., Đukić, D. & Stojanova, M. (2026). Growing forage grasses on the degraded lands in the Southern Steppe zone of Ukraine. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 32(2), 317–324
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| Date published: 2026-04-29
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