River valleys, annually flooded during floods, are a rich source of high-quality forbs that are used for hay. The meadow has always been considered an important part of rural life. Teams of mowers provided hay for all the livestock in the village. Floodplain meadows are considered especially fruitful, and the grass cut on them is the most nutritious for animals.
Concept
A meadow located in the immediate vicinity of a river floodplain and annually flooded by its waters is called a floodplain. If you compare it with other meadows, then against their background it will look poor. It rarely grows a large number of plant species. This is due to the fact that not all vegetation is suitable for permanent flooding.
But the quality of pasture grass and hay from it is the highest, as is the yield. There is also an explanation for this. Every time the water drains, the flood plains are covered with alluvial sediments, the so-called silt. It nourishes the soil, and in addition tomoisture creates favorable conditions for abundant and rapid growth of plants.
Depending on where the floodplain meadow is located, the soil may differ in composition. But unlike other types of pastures, all soils are fertile, loose and well ventilated. River valleys may vary in timing of flooding.
Flood duration
Depending on how long the water overflows the banks, floodplain meadows are divided:
- For short-floodplain, flooded for up to 15 days. They are found near small rivers or water bodies with high banks.
- Middle floodplains are covered with water for a period of 15 to 25 days. Such meadows are most often found in floodplains of large reservoirs.
- Long-floodplain meadows can stand under water for 25 days or more. These species are most common and are located near large rivers.
The herbal composition that fills the floodplain meadow depends on the time of flooding. There are plants that can easily tolerate a long spill. These include creeping couch grass, swamp rank, common mannik, reed canary grass and others. In fact, there are not many types of grasses in nature that can withstand flooding for 40-50 days.
Medium-resistant herbage that filled the floodplain meadow includes: reed and meadow fescue, creeping and hybrid clover, meadow bluegrass and others.
Ryegrass, alfalfa, meadow clover and sea urchin are among grasses with low resistance to flooding.
Resistance of meadow plants tocold weather
All vegetation of floodplain meadows can also be divided into species according to winter hardiness:
- Very frost resistant - awnless brome, Siberian hair, giant bentgrass, creeping couch grass, common beckmania, fescue, sweet clover and yellow alfalfa.
- Cold-resistant herbs - meadow timothy grass, red fescue, horned locust and others.
- Medium-hardy plants - meadow fescue, hybrid alfalfa, meadow clover, clover team.
- Low-hardy herbs - pasture and multicut ryegrass.
Floodplain meadows sown with frost-resistant plant species have the greatest variety of herbs, which means both the quantity and quality of hay. But even for them, very low temperatures or a large layer of snow can be dangerous and can affect yields.
River part of the floodplain
According to the location, the types of floodplain meadows are divided into riverine, central and middle parts of the floodplain.
The near-channel part is located in close proximity to the riverbed. Usually occupies a small strip of land with sand deposits. Cereals grow best in riverbed floodplain meadows. In turn, this part can be conditionally divided into 3 types:
- High level - these are meadows located either in the forest and covered with coarse herbage (cutting grass, cow parsnip), or in the steppe zone, where there is a mixture of meadow grasses, forbs and steppe representatives (rush, thin-legged, tipa and others).
- Floodplain meadow of medium level. Herethere are forbs, legumes, valuable broad-leaved cereals.
- Low level meadows. They are distinguished by dampness, which is most liked by wheatgrass, white bent grass, bluegrass meadow, beckmania, canary grass and others.
River meadows are most suitable for the growth of rhizomatous and umbrella grasses with a well-developed root system.
Meadows of the central floodplain
This is the largest area of floodplain meadows, and it is located just behind the riverbed zone. Here, sandy-clay deposits with a large species of forbs are most often found. Since these are the least flooded areas, they often experience a lack of moisture, which leads to a rather low herbage.
Loose bushy cereals grow here in large numbers: timothy grass, tall ryegrass, meadow fescue, cocksfoot, meadow foxtail, common bentgrass and others. Some of them, such as foxtail, give 2 crops per season, which allows you to collect from 20 to 50 centners of hay per hectare. All these perennial grasses grow in one place up to 10-15 years, giving high yields of fodder year after year.
Middle and lower floodplain
Meadows located in the middle part of the floodplain are considered the best in terms of yield and grass quality. Most often here you can find timothy grass, meadow and red fescue, foxtail and bluegrass from cereals. From the legume family, you can find yellow alfalfa, red and white clover, mouse peas, chin, and horned locust. From herbs - buttercup, meadow geranium, cornflower,bedstraw, common daisy, yarrow and others. This diversity of species is due to the especially high content of silt in the soil, which settles after the water drains.
The lower level of the floodplain (terrace zone) is characterized by a decrease in relief, which often leads to waterlogging, and in some cases even to the formation of a peat bog.
Here the soil does not have such aeration as in other types of floodplain meadows, so you can find real thickets of willow, alder, nettle and watercress. Cereals "feel" well in these places - marsh bluegrass, meadow foxtail, soddy pike, creeping bent grass.
If environmental conditions allow, then in the terraced floodplain meadows you can find a large number of hygrophytes - sedge, reed, reed, cotton grass.
Wetlands
Wetland floodplain meadows are usually located in the most flooded places, where water can stand from 50 to 95 days. They are characterized by peaty-gley soils, on which water can reach a level of up to 2 m or more. After the flood, this area remains highly moistened for a long time. Most often here you can find these types of plants:
- Grains: reed grass, meadow foxtail, soddy pike, floating mannik and meadow oatmeal.
- Forbs: sour sorrel, green chickweed, marshmallow, marsh forget-me-not, creeping ranunculus, cinquefoil direct and meadowsweet.
- From varieties of sedge: millet, fox, hare, acute and early.
Due to waterlogging, these meadows are rarely used for grazing, although the plants growing here are suitable for hay and are highly nutritious.
Floodplain meadow care
Whatever the characteristics of floodplain meadows in terms of location or duration of flooding, they need to be improved. First of all, this concerns the vegetation in the middle and upper zone of the floodplain. Experienced specialists know that 30% of the meadow is occupied by cereals and legumes. To enhance their growth, they harrow in a pair of tracks, which simultaneously removes debris and compares bumps.
It is recommended to carry out these works immediately after the water has gone. In the event that after the flood there is an increased growth of forbs, harrowing should not be done, but it is better to postpone this work for a while after haymaking.
You need to mow the grass for the first time before flowering, because if you do it during its earing, then over time the number of its varieties will significantly decrease in the meadow.
If two-cut technology is used at the same time, then at the first cut it is necessary to leave stems 4-5 cm high, and at the second - 6-7 cm. This will allow the plants to save the maximum nutrients that accumulate in the lower part of the stem, to easily endure frosts.
Fertilization of floodplain meadows
To improve the quality and productivity of floodplain meadows, mineral fertilizers should be applied to the soil. This will not only enhance the growth of grass, but also affecton its nutritional properties. Mineral fertilizers will help increase yields, which will only grow from year to year, and will make plants more resistant to adverse natural factors.
As experts note, regular application of phosphate and potash fertilizers in the first 2-3 years increases the yield by 0.5 tons per hectare. After the fifth year, the figures average 2.6 t/ha. At the same time, there is an increased growth of legumes, which improve soil nitrogen fixation, which leads to an increase in the growth of cereals and herbs.
