Botanical Composition and Quality Analysis of Grassland of Red Fescue (Festuca rubra L.) Treated with Lumbrical and Lumbrex Biofertilizers

The impact of biofertilizers (Lumbrical and Lumbrex), produced by red earthworm (Lumbricus rubellus), was studied on the botanical composition and forage quality of an artificial grassland of Festuca rubra L. ‘Ryder' cultivar, expressed by the fiber composition of dried biomass. The studied bioproducts provide a higher (by 2%) presence of the main crop in the grassland and significantly reduce the weeds. The level of dry forage matter in the fiber structural components is influenced by the biofertilizers. The grasslands treated with Lumbrex 200 ml / da showed the lowest values of NDF (563.02 g kg-1 DM) and ADL (21.57 g kg-1 DM). The reduction of the lignin fraction was from 23.1% (Lumbrical 150 ml/m2) to 63.6% (Lumbrex 200 ml/da). The foliar treatment with organic fertilizer decreased to the highest degree the lignification process and provided optimal conditions for obtaining ecologically pure agricultural products with improved quality indicators. Treatment of Festuca rubra L. with a granulated substance (Lumbrical 200 ml/m2) decreased to the highest degree ADF amount (by 22.3%) in comparison to the control (367.82 g kg-1 DM). The highest concentration of hemicellulose (284.22 g kg-1 DM) and the highest in vitro dry matter digestibility (674.10 g kg-1 DM) was found in the forage mass of that variant. Indicator values exceeded the control by 32.7% and 13.1%, respectively. Bioproducts also reduced the cellulose content by 3.6% (Lumbrex 200 ml/da) to 20.6% (Lumbrical 150 ml/m2). The highest energy nutritional value was found in the forage biomass in the variant with Lumbrex 150 ml/da. The compositions of the bioproduct tested increase the amount of gross and exchange energy, respectively, by 0.8 and 1.4% relative to the control.