The main reasons for the degeneration of artificial meadow herbages in conditions of cutover bogs

Depleted peatlands, as a habitat for meadow herbages, differ significantly from zonal soils. The main differences are a large soil diversity, an extremely unregulated food regime, harsh temperature conditions, while the technical possibility of controlling the water regime is noted. The purpose of the research is to establish the main causes and dynamics of the degeneration of perennial grass stands on cutover bogs of varying length of reclamation and the degree of development of the peat layer, as well as the technological possibility of resuscitation of their species composition and productivity. The research was carried out in three land reclamation permanent study areas of the Kirov Meadow-Swamp Experimental Station on grasslands operating in a permanent mowing regime from 10 to 50 years, in conjunction with water and food regimes. It has been established that in a site with shallow depleted peat soil, under conditions of prolonged stagnant water regime, there is a sharp decrease in productivity and a rapid restructuring of the structure of meadow phytocenosis in favor of paludicole and moisture-resistant species, despite the high fertilizing background. In the bog-peaty-gley soil variety, a similar restructuring also occurs, but much more slowly. On fully depleted peat soil, the temporary suspension of fertilization on herbage of meadow catmint leads to an expected decrease in its productivity, while the species composition is expanded many times. The number of introduced variegated grasses exceeds 60 species. About 50 % of this amount consists of grasses that are promising for use as fodder. In conditions of a well-regulated water regime, the resumption of the application of fertilizers increases the yield of herbage by more than 2 times, but reduces its species diversity several times due to the displacement of harmful, poisonous and low-food species. Calculations show that the efficiency of water regime management using sluicing can reach 100 % or more in extremely dry years.

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