Research into properties of blue melilot and fenugreek cultivated using different sowing times

Inglés. Received: September 6th, 2021 ; Accepted: January 30th, 2022 ; Published: February 17th, 2022 ; Correspondence: [email protected]

Inglés. The paper presents the results of the research into the properties of blue melilot(Melilotus caeruleus (L.) Desr.) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum L.) with regard tothe set of their economy-and-biology and biochemical indices in relation to the dates of theirsowing. It has been established that the two species under consideration feature wide ranges ofindex variability depending on the sowing term and the weather conditions. The earliest ripeningterms have been recorded for species in case of summer sowing dates (decade I of June), whenshort growing season lengths of 36–37 days were observed. At the same time, in terms of heavyplant herbage yield obtained from species in the green conveyor system, the early spring (decadesII–III of April) and late spring (decade I of May) sowing terms are more suitable providinga herbage yield of 5.7–6.9 t ha–1 in case of blue melilot and 7.3–9.3 t ha–1 for fenugreek, with asolids content of 12.4–28.4%, total sugars of 2.5–5.0% and vitamin C - 38.0–51.8 mg (100 g)-1.For the purpose of obtaining the spice named ‘Greek hay’ (foenum Graecum), a better choice isto cultivate fenugreek with early spring (decades II–III of April) and late spring (decade I of May)sowing times, as in this case a greater vegetation mass develops, resulting in a plant dry weightyield of 1.3–1.4 t ha–1. An increase in the total precipitation by 1 mm has contributed to thevariation of the herbage yield within the range of 15.0 to 77.3 kg ha–1, dry matter yield - 0.693 to25.9 kg ha–1. High seed yield has been noted in case of sowing the species in early spring (decadesII–III of April), where the seed yield of blue melilot was equal to 0.4 t ha-1, fenugreek - 2.0 t ha-1,their 1,000 seeds having a weight of 0.71 and 9.7 g, respectively.