Received: September 6th, 2021 ; Accepted: January 30th, 2022 ; Published: February 17th, 2022 ; Correspondence: [email protected] 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 to
the set of their economy-and-biology and biochemical indices in relation to the dates of their
sowing. It has been established that the two species under consideration feature wide ranges of
index variability depending on the sowing term and the weather conditions. The earliest ripening
terms have been recorded for species in case of summer sowing dates (decade I of June), when
short growing season lengths of 36–37 days were observed. At the same time, in terms of heavy
plant herbage yield obtained from species in the green conveyor system, the early spring (decades
II–III of April) and late spring (decade I of May) sowing terms are more suitable providing
a 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 a
solids 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 is
to 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 weight
yield of 1.3–1.4 t ha–1. An increase in the total precipitation by 1 mm has contributed to the
variation of the herbage yield within the range of 15.0 to 77.3 kg ha–1, dry matter yield - 0.693 to
25.9 kg ha–1. High seed yield has been noted in case of sowing the species in early spring (decades
II–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
