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This article analyses and evaluates the impact of the technology of soil processing on the biomass indicators of faba bean waste. Samples from five different primary tillage systems were taken and analysed. The raw material of faba bean waste was processed and pressed into cylindrical pellets. The results of the experimental research of the pellet properties revealed that the content of moisture of the pellets from faba bean waste changed from 8.2% (deep cultivation, 3-GP) to 10.8% (untreated soil, 5-ND). The highest density of faba bean waste pellets was obtained from the sample of conventional soil ploughing, (1-IA) (1311 kg m−3), while the lowest density was recorded under shallow ploughing (2-SA) – 1275 kg m−3. The lower calorific value of dry biofuel from faba bean waste pellets was similar in all the samples and ranged from 16.9 MJ kg−1 (5-ND) to 17.1 MJ kg−1 (2-SP). The calorific value of faba bean waste pellets was relatively high and was close to the calorific value of some types of wood waste. The following harmful gas emissions were analysed and evaluated: carbon monoxide CO, carbon dioxide CO2, unburned hydrocarbons CxHy, and nitrogen oxides NOx. The harmful gas environmental emissions detected while burning the pellets of faba bean waste have not exceeded the permissible limits. The best results of the pellet properties, the content of ash and the emissions were obtained under conventional ploughing (1-IA) and deep cultivation (3-GP). The research results suggest that faba bean waste could be used as granulated biofuel, since the main parameters of this legume waste correspond to the basic requirements of solid biofuel. It was determined that under untreated soil (5-ND) technology the CO2 emissions eqv. were twice lower than under conventional soil ploughing (1-IA). These results show that no-till technology is suitable for sustainable agricultural practise both for producing the faba bean grain and for processing the pellets from the waste.

Decreased tillage intensity can contribute to a reduced agro-technological footprint and stabilise the negative impact of climate change, especially in leguminous crop cultivation. For this reason, a long-term (since 1988) stationary field experiment has been performed on silty loam Planosol (in Lithuania). The main objective of this study was to establish the influence of sustainable tillage and no-tillage systems on soil aggregate stability to water, penetration resistance, enzymatic activity, abundance of earthworm and faba bean grain yield. Five different tillage systems were investigated: conventional deep and shallow mouldboard ploughing, deep chiselling, shallow disking and no-tillage. No-tillage in faba bean cultivation significantly increased soil structural stability by 40–97%, saccharase content by 0.7–2.0 times, urease activity by 3–4 times, the average quantity of earthworm by 55% and the biomass by 3.6 times. The impact of other ploughless tillage systems on soil properties was positive but not as significant. Faba bean grain yield was more influenced by growing seasons than by different tillage methods.

Dairy cattle breeding is one of the main suppliers of protein and animal fat, it is one of the most important branches of agriculture and plays a primary role in providing adequate nutrition for the population. During the purposeful work on harmonization of the national regulatory framework with international legislation, special attention is paid to scientific developments in the way of full implementation of Russian livestock production in the global trading system. The recommendations of the International Committee for Registration of Animals (ICAR) (Global Standard…, 2017; Trukhachev et al., 2017) are the methodological basis for the introduction of the generally accepted organizational principles for the recording and evaluation of the productive qualities of animals. One of the stages of this process was implementation in 2015-2017. in the Stavropol State Agrarian University of research projects, especially significant for the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in the direction of ensuring import substitution in animal husbandry (genetic material), which envisage the development of a regional model for the formation and management of highly productive genetic resources for dairy cattle. The object of the research was cattle (cows) of the North Caucasian population of the Ayrshire breed (n = 550), from which, based on the analysis of the materials of the primary zooveterinary records, groups of cows with 3-fold milking were formed to study the daily dynamics of fat and protein content in raw milk samples I, II and III milking, n = 240) and 2-fold milking (I and II milking - 180 cows). In the process of performing monthly analyzes of the quality of individual milk samples obtained from pedigree cows taken for 2- or 3-fold milking, it was found that a certain pattern is observed in the diurnal dynamics of fat and protein content in milk, which probably has a general biological nature and largely depends on the technological factor - the multiplicity of milking cows, which coincides, basically, with the regularities described in the methodology of the International Committee for Registration of Animals (ICAR). The nature of the dynamics of the concentration of fat in milk at 2- and 3-fold milking has, though a different mathematical form, but they have a general tendency: the fat in milk for milking cows, as a rule, is 10.77–10.98 % lower, than II and III milking. The variability of the protein concentration in milk during the day is the same as the fat dynamics, though it is less expressed than of fat and accounts 0.88%. Keywords: milk cows, milk quality, Ayrshire cattle Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.068