BIOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES AND FORAGE VALUE OF THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS ASTRAGALUS L. IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

One of the major problems of the revitalization and the development of animal husbandry sector is increasing and diversification of the production of fodder, balanced in terms of quantity and quality throughout the year, according to the physiological requirements of animals. The leguminous plants play an important role in increasing the quality of fodder because they have a significant content of protein, vitamins and calcium raising the nutritional value of the fodder and livestock products. We have studied the biological peculiarities, productivity and nutritional value of fodder leguminous plant species of the collection of nontraditional fodder plants of the Botanical Garden (Institute) of the ASM: Astragalus galegiformis L., Astragalus cicer L., Astragalus ponticus Pall, Astragalus sulcatus L. The traditional forage crop alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) served as control variant. It has been established that Astragalus galegiformis L. grows and develops more intensively than the other species studied, ensures a higher productivity with an increased fodder quality. The fodder of Astragalus galegiformis plants has a high content of essential amino acids, especially methionine and lysine.Due to the productivity and high and stable quality of fodder, use of the plantation for a long period of time, high capacity of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, ensuring of a good harvest for the bees, the species Astragalus galegiformis can serve as initial material for enriching the range of forage crops.