N. GEORGIEVA1, I. NIKOLOVA1, T. ZHELYAZKOVA2, D. PAVLOV2 and Y. NAYDENOVA1
1 Institute of Forage Crops, BG - 5800 Pleven, Bulgaria
2 Trakia University, BG - 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
GEORGIEVA, N., I. NIKOLOVA, T. ZHELYAZKOVA, D. PAVLOV and Y. NAYDENOVA, 2011. Energy efficiency of spring vetch (Vicia sativa L.) cultivated for fresh biomass. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 17: 612-720
Field experiment with spring vetch, cultivated for fresh biomass was conducted for establishing productivity, composition, nutritive value and energy efficiency under the influence of different growth regulators: Atonic - 0.6 L.ha-1, Masterblend - 1.6 kg.ha-1 and Confidor 70 VG - 0.15 kg.ha-1 applied in budding; budding + flowering; flowering. Energy efficiency was calculated by balance method (energy input and output) by energy equivalents for all operations and energy value of the biomass calculated by composition and digestibility. Treatment of spring vetch with Atonic, Confidor and Masterblend had a positive effect and increased the yield of biomass and had no effect on chemical composition, nutritive and energy value of the vetch biomass. Energy equivalent of the examined growth regulators is very low - 0.019 to 0.55 % from the total energy input, and has no essential effect on energy input in vetch cultivation. Treatment of spring vetch with combination Confidor + Masterblend or Confidor +Atonic increased energy output with about 28-29% and improved energy conversion, increasing the coefficient of energy efficiency with 24 to 26%.