In the context of marketability, economic value, and agricultural effectiveness to meet the feed demand of animal husbandry, it is necessary to create a solid forage base in the Kyzylorda region, Kazakhstan. The thriving solution to increased livestock and animal husbandry productivity in ecological conditions of the Aral Sea region principally depends upon the timely procurement of feed and the establishment of industrial-based feed production. Producing enhanced high-quality feeds can be the outcome of introducing high-yielding varieties, using new resource-saving cultivation and harvesting technologies, organizing optimal cultivation and production processes, and increasing the efficiency of various technical means. Of all the harvested types of feeds, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) has the best effect on increasing the livestock’s milk and meat yield. All farm animals can also consume the green mass of alfalfa much faster. In feeding cattle with alfalfa, its utilization rate is 92.6%. On biochemical composition, alfalfa hay surpasses various other feeds, and 100 kg of alfalfa hay contains 11.6 kg of digestible protein, 1.77 kg of calcium, 0.22 kg of phosphorus, and 4.5 g of carotene. In conditions with rice crop rotation and according to its biological characteristics, alfalfa is indispensable in agrotechnical and reclamation relations, especially in saline soils. The economic value of alfalfa lies in its broad ecological plasticity, high productivity, and ability to grow back quickly after mowing.
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), timing of haymaking, animal husbandry, growth dynamics, fodder yield, biochemical composition, quality
Under the environmental conditions of the Kazakhstan Aral Sea region, for the preparation of a highly nutritious alfalfa haylage with a high digestibility, its mowing must be “from the beginning of budding to the beginning of flowering,” in which the duration of mowing should not exceed 10 days with an optimal cut height of 4–6 cm.