Forage grasses from the legume family. Legume family A plant from the legume family 5

Alfalfa

Alfalfa (Medicago - Medicago), legume herbaceous plant, which is the oldest fodder crop. It belongs to the most valuable fodder crops and occupies the largest areas in Russia.
Alfalfa hay is superior in nutritional value to clover hay. Flour made from young alfalfa hay is close to bran in nutritional value. Green mass and alfalfa hay are rich in vitamins (A, B1, B2, C). Alfalfa is also of great agrotechnical importance, as it enriches the soil. large quantity organic matter and has a high nitrogen-fixing capacity.

Alfalfa is distributed mainly in the republics Central Asia, Transcaucasia, in the North Caucasus, in the forest-steppe and steppe regions of Ukraine, in the Voronezh, Kuibyshev and Saratov regions, in Western Siberia and the Primorsky Territory.
Alfalfa is sown in its pure form and mixed with cereal grasses. The root of alfalfa is taproot, penetrating up to 5 m in depth. The stem is round, rarely tetrahedral, branching, reaching a height of 1.0-1.5 m (Fig. 86). The inflorescence is a raceme containing 12 to 26 flowers. The fruit is a bean, spirally curved (up to 5 whorls), sickle-shaped or almost straight. A bean contains 4 to 10 seeds.
Seeds are small, bean-shaped, kidney-shaped or angular-round, yellow-brown or brown in color.
Among the numerous types of alfalfa in Russia are cultivated: Asian, European, Caucasian, Mediterranean, Mesopotamian, yellow and blue. The first two species are predominantly distributed: Asian and European alfalfa. The division into types is based on such features as the color of flowers, the shape of the bean, the shape and density of the brush, etc.

Asian alfalfa (M. asiatica - Medicago Asian). The flowers are purple or dark purple in color. Bob of medium size, spirally curved (from 2.5 to 4 twists), dark brown. Seeds bean-shaped, brown.
Varieties of Asian alfalfa: Poltavskaya 1774, Semirechenskaya local, Fergana 700, Khiva, etc.
European alfalfa (M. eusativa - Medicago evsativa). The flowers are light purple, lilac-variegated, yellow-variegated, dark blue and yellow.
The bean is spirally curved (from 1 to 3.5 twists), less often sickle-shaped, the color is light brown or brown. Seeds are reniform, light brown in color.
Varieties of European alfalfa: Marusinskaya 425, Poltavskaya 256 Zaikevicha, Tibetskaya, etc.
Yellow alfalfa (M. falcata - Medicago falcata) The flowers are yellow. The beans are sickle-shaped or straight, light brown. Seeds angular, brown.
Varieties of yellow alfalfa: Krasnokutskaya 4009, Kuban yellow, Kinelskaya 1.

Clover

Clover (Trifolium - Trifolium) - one of the most common legume fodder plants. As a fodder plant, clover is used for hay, silage, pastures, in addition, it is used as a green fertilizer. It is sown in its pure form and mixed with cereals, such crops are the best predecessor for cereals and industrial crops. Clover hay is rich in nutrients, but slightly inferior to alfalfa hay in this respect. The agrotechnical significance of clover lies in its great influence on soil structure.
Clover has been cultivated in our country for a long time and every year it becomes more and more widespread. It is cultivated in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and other regions.

Clover has a powerful root system. The clover stem is erect, creeping and branching (Fig. 87). Inflorescence - head, rounded or oblong-rounded. The corolla of the flower is painted in red, white or pink.
The bean fruit has one, two, three, and four seeds. Seeds are small, ovoid, heart-shaped, round-ovate. The color of the seeds is varied: violet-yellow, greenish-yellow, dark green, purple. The surface of the seeds is shiny. The absolute weight ranges from 0.68 to 1.6 g. The length of the seeds is up to 2.5 mm. There are eight types of clover in the culture, of which red, pink, and white are the most common. These three species of clover are perennials.
Red clover (T. pratense - Trifolium pratense) is most common in crops (see Fig. 87). At favorable conditions the plant reaches 1.5 m in height. The flowers are red, pink and sometimes yellow-white. Seeds ovoid, violet-yellow or greenish-yellow. The absolute weight of the seeds is about 1.72 g. The length of the seeds is up to 2 mm.
Varieties of red clover; Amursky 11, Central Russian, Tomsk local, Glukhovsky local, Perm local, etc.
Pink clover (T hybridum L. - Trifolium hybridum). The flowers are pink. The fruit is a bean with one or two seeds. Seeds are small, flattened, dark green. The absolute weight of the seeds is 0.68 g.
White clover (T. repens L. - Trifolium repens) is characterized by good winter hardiness and is valued as a pasture crop. The flowers are white. Bob - two- and four-seed. Seeds are round, small, yellow color.

Sainfoin

Sainfoin (Onobrychis. - Onobrychis) is a perennial legume fodder plant. Nutrient content and yield
when sowing for hay in forest-steppe and steppe zones Russia is not inferior to alfalfa. Sainfoin hay contains over 15% protein. Esparcet is a good honey plant.
Its culture became widespread during the years of the first and second five-year plans. Currently, the area under sainfoin crops is increasing every year.
Esparcet is cultivated in the forest-steppe and steppe regions of Ukraine, in the central black earth regions, in the Volga region, in the steppe regions of Bashkiria and Tatarstan, in the North Caucasus, in Transcaucasia. Sainfoin is sown in its pure form or mixed with other fodder grasses.

Esparcet is drought-resistant, it has a strong root system, it grows well on sandy and stony soils. Sainfoin promotes the absorption of soil phosphorus by other plants. The stem is pubescent, the height of the stem is from 40 to 120 cm or more (Fig. 88), the inflorescence is a brush. flowers color pink various shades. The fruit is a non-cracking one-seeded bean, 4.5 to 8.5 mm long. The surface of the beans is covered with a network of convex veins. Seeds are bean-shaped, yellow-white or yellow-brown. Seed length 4.0-4.5 mm. The absolute weight of seeds is 13-18 g.
Varieties: Transcaucasian bi-cutting, AzNIKHI 18, AzNIKHI 74, Nakhichevan local, Sandy 1251, Ukrainian 2795, etc.

sweet clover

Sweet clover (Melilotus - Melilotus) from the legume family - annual or biennial plant. Sweet clover is used to produce hay, as a silage and pasture crop, at the same time it is a good honey plant. Great importance has sweet clover in creating a food base in arid regions.
Its culture matters in such areas as Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Bashkiria, the Volga region, Estonian, Latvia and Ukraine. In the wild, sweet clover is widely distributed in many regions of Russia.

The sweet clover has a powerful root system, a straight, high stem, sometimes reaching a height of 3 m. The inflorescence is a brush. Flowers are white or yellow. The fruit is a bean, often one-seeded, rounded ovoid. The length of the beans is 2.5-5.0 mm, the color is gray-brown, yellow, yellow-brown. The surface is reticulate or wrinkled (Fig. 89).
Oval-shaped seeds, plain or patterned.
The sweet clover plant and seeds contain coumarin, which gives them strong smell. The admixture of sweet clover seeds in a batch of cereals is undesirable. During storage, the grain perceives the smell of sweet clover, and this smell is transferred to processed products - flour and cereals.
Currently being implemented in agriculture coumarin-free sweet clover varieties bred by Soviet breeders.
The absolute weight of seeds is on average 20 g, in crops the most common is white (Melilotus albus) and yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis).
The white sweet clover has the largest practical value. It has biennial and annual forms. flowers white color. Bob - one-seeded with a mesh surface. Seeds are round-ovoid, slightly flattened, 2.0-2.5 mm long, yellow-brown in color, with a smooth, matte surface.
Varieties of white sweet clover: Omsky 4032, Veselo-Podolyansky 1146, Alfalfa 9654, Siberian, etc.
Yellow, or medicinal, sweet clover - biennial or annual plant. Used as feed or medicinal plant. Its flowers are yellow. Bob is single-seeded, rarely two-seeded. Seeds are round-ovoid, slightly flattened, 1.75-2.00 mm long. On the surface, they usually have violet-black spots or smears.

Lupine

Lupine (Lupinus - Lupinus from the legume family) has annual and perennial forms. root system lupine is highly developed and has the ability to absorb nutrients from insoluble compounds.
The stem is ribbed or round, reaching a height of up to 1.5-2.0 m in some varieties. Inflorescence - apical brush Flowers white, pink, purple, yellow, blue. The fruit is a bean, elongated-rhombic in shape, pubescent. The bean contains 2 to 8 seeds and in most varieties it cracks when ripe. Seeds are kidney-shaped, ovoid, rounded, flattened, with characteristic tubercles at the hilum, pink-gray with black specks, gray with a marbled pattern, white and pinkish-cream. Lupine seeds are rich in proteins, the content of which ranges from 32 to 48%. Lupine seeds contain alkaloids (1-2%); lupine - C10H19NO, lupinidine - C15H26N2, lupanin - C15H24N2O, etc., which cause poisonous properties and the bitter taste of lupine seeds. The presence of alkaloids in lupine seeds prevents its use for feed. Therefore, it was mainly used as a green fertilizer.
The varieties of low-alkaloid and non-alkaloid lupine bred by Soviet breeders open wide opportunities for the use of lupine for livestock feed, as well as in Food Industry. The main areas of lupine culture are the northwestern regions of Ukraine, Belarus, the southwestern regions of Russia and Transcaucasia.
In crops in Russia, the following types of lupine are most common: narrow-leaved, yellow, white.
Narrow-leaved, or blue, lupine (L. angustifolius - Lupinus angustifolius) is an annual plant with narrow leaves. The flowers are blue, purple, blue, pink, white. Seeds are large, 6-8 mm long, kidney-shaped, gray color with marble pattern. The absolute weight of the seeds is 130-200 g.
Yellow lupine (L. Luteus - Lupinus luteus) - an annual plant with yellow flowers. Seeds are kidney-shaped, white-pink or gray-motley, in terms of protein content it occupies the first place among other types of lupine. The absolute weight of seeds is 110-200 g.
White lupine (L. albus - Lupinus albus) is an annual plant with white flowers. Seeds flattened, quadrangular, with slightly rounded corners, white with a slight pink-cream tint.

Seradella

Seradella (Ornithopus sativus - Ornithopus sativus) is an annual herbaceous leguminous plant. Introduced into culture relatively recently. Cultivated usually for green manure and as a honey plant. It is a valuable fodder plant (pasture and silage). Nutritionally close to red clover.
It is cultivated in the Leningrad, Smolensk and Tver regions, in Belarus and some regions of Ukraine.
The fruit of the seradella is a bean with a reticulate-wrinkled surface, greenish or gray in color, which breaks up into segments when ripe, which are sometimes called seeds.
Seeds are round-ovoid, dark yellow. Seed length 2.0-5.2 mm. Absolute weight 3-5 g.

All adults and even children know beans and peas, beans and lentils, fragrant acacias and clover, peanuts and mimosa, and meanwhile, all these are plants of the legume (or moth) family. An extensive group, it is difficult to overestimate the benefits of which for a person. We eat these plants, we plant them for beauty, we improve the soil with them, we use wood, we dye our clothes, and we even heal ourselves.

Legume family: general characteristics

The family familiar to everyone since school unites great amount species, according to approximate estimates, about 17-18 thousand. Botanists divide it into three subfamilies (based on the structure of the flower): caesalpinia, mimosa, moth. It is interesting to note that leguminous plants include the genus Astragalus, which has the largest number of species among flowering plants (about 2400). Plants of this family have a fairly large habitat both in the hot tropics (mainly caesalpine and mimosa), and in the Far North, in deserts and savannahs.

Nitrogen fixation is distinguishing feature the whole family. The roots of leguminous plants have nodules, which are formed as a result of the growth of parenchymal tissue. And this, in turn, is explained by the introduction and settlement inside the plant of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, belonging to the genus Rhizobium. They have an amazing ability to absorb and accumulate atmospheric nitrogen, which is later used by the plant itself for its growth. Such large reserves are vital important element have a good effect on the environment. Legumes are great for improving soil fertility. It is widely used in industrial scale, and competent and knowledgeable gardeners who do not forget to alternate planting different cultures in your area. Every year, they return about 100-140 kilograms of nitrogen back to the soil per hectare.

The structure of the leaves of leguminous plants

Legumes may have different shape leaves. They can be conditionally divided into several groups:

paired pinnate and doubly pinnate (pea, yellow acacia) leaves, they are located on both sides of the stem;
simplified (reduced to one apical leaf);
falsely simple, formed as a result of the fusion of two apical leaves;
phyllodes (in African species of acacias) are flattened leaf petioles.

Legumes are characterized amazing property- paired leaves can fold at night. This is due to the fact that there are thickenings at the base of the petioles, which, due to a change in turgor, lead to leaf blade or just the leaves in motion. For example, shy mimosa is able to do this instantly, since even a light touch of its leaves causes an instant loss of osmotic pressure in them. This property was noticed a very long time ago and was the reason for naming the plant so.

flower and inflorescence

Leguminous plants can have various inflorescences, but most often it is a panicle or brush, sometimes capitate brushes (clover), much less often they are reduced to a single flower. Representatives of the family are characterized by cross-pollination, in which pollen from one flower is transferred to another much less often by insects (bees, bumblebees) or bats and birds in tropical species.

The flowers of leguminous plants can be zygomorphic or actinomorphic (for example, mimosas). The calyx usually consists of four, less often of five sepals, which grow together. There are 5 petals (for all moths and some representatives of two other subfamilies) or 4. Their name and division are very interesting, depending on the function performed. So, the topmost and largest was called the "flag", it attracts insects that pollinate the plant. The petals located on the sides are commonly called wings, and this is a kind of "landing area". The innermost, as a rule, grow together along the lower edge and form a boat that protects the stamens and pistil from insects that are not pollinators. But, for example, in mimosa, all petals are of the same shape - free or fused.

The fruits of leguminous plants

In this case, there is an absolute unity of all species of the family. The fruit is called a bean (single- or multi-seeded), opening along the dorsal or ventral suture. Seeds inside the fruit are quite large, with or without endosperm, cotyledons are well developed. Appearance the bean can be absolutely any, as well as the size. In some species, its length reaches one and a half meters. Seed dispersal sometimes occurs on its own, when the valves of the fruit, when opened, twist in a spiral, and they scatter into different sides such as acacia. Some tropical species are dispersed by animals or birds. The ovary of the familiar peanut (peanut) due to negative geotropism, that is, the ability to grow and develop in a certain direction, when formed, goes into the soil by 8-10 cm, where the fruit then develops.

The value of legumes in the economy

In terms of practical importance for humans, plants of the legume family are second only to cereals. Among them are a huge number of food crops of world importance: soybeans, peas, beans, peanuts, chickpeas, lentils and many others. Some of them have been cultivated by people for more than a millennium.

Leguminous plants are of great importance as forage grasses, this category includes: clover, alfalfa, lupine, sainfoin, etc. Some tropical members of the family (for example, logwood, pericopsis, dalbergia) are a source of valuable and highly decorative wood, painted in pink, almost red, dark brown or almost black.

Decorative and medicinal value

There are also decorative types among legumes, such as wisteria. This is tree view originally from China with large carpal fragrant inflorescences. A very popular garden and park plant. Another representative is the whitened acacia, which is widespread on the Black Sea coast. From herbaceous gardens, for example, sweet peas, lupins are grown. Everyone knows the indigo color, but few people know that the dye of the same name is obtained from the indigo dye plant, a small shrub from the legume family.

Some species have long been used in medicine: fenugreek, astragalus, sweet clover, etc. Everyone is familiar with licorice, or naked licorice. It is a herbaceous leguminous plant that is widely used throughout the world as medicine against cough ( healing properties known since the time ancient egypt). Its roots and rhizomes are used for this. In some European countries liquorice candies are very popular and are loved even by children. They have a characteristic black glossy color.

The legume family includes more than 18,000 representatives of the flora. It contains plants of various life forms: here you can find both huge trees and small grasses. The first of them mainly grow in the tropics, while the range of the second is unlimited. Their role is significant in ecosystems, since they are able to accumulate atmospheric nitrogen. Some of them have been used in national economy.

Botanical characteristic

The leaves of the representatives of the family are mostly pinnate, trifoliate, sometimes they are palmate, having stipules. The upper parts of the leaf are sometimes transformed into tendrils, and in some plants the entire leaf is completely.

Inflorescences are represented by heads (clover) or racemes (melilot, lupine).

The flower of the legume family has a sail, a boat and oars. The first is understood as the upper large petal. The lateral ones are called oars, and the two lower ones, fused, are called a boat. The color of the flowers is the most varied. It has 10 stamens, with 9 filaments fused, and the top one remains free, although sometimes there are exceptions.

The fruit of the legume family is called a bean, although it is popularly called a pod, which is not entirely correct, since the latter have plants of the Cabbage family. It looks like a bean, but the arrangement of the seeds is different there. Pollination is mainly cross - with the help of bees or bumblebees. There are also self-pollinating species.

Roots have nodules. Bacteria that live in symbiosis with plants live on them, for which they capture atmospheric nitrogen. This leads to the fact that when cultivating representatives of the legume family in agricultural practice, soil fertility improves.

plant value

They have a great feed and nutritional value. This is due to the fact that the legume family is characterized by a high protein content in seeds. Some representatives (soybeans, peanuts) also have a large mass fraction fat. Individual plants (soybean, lupine) contain up to 40% protein in seeds.

Legumes in a crop rotation leave behind a large number of nitrogen in the soil and are a valuable precursor for other crops that alternate with them in crop rotation.

Individual representatives

Plants include three subfamilies - Moth, Caesalpium and Mimosa.

Trees belong to the Caesalpian. Their habitat is the tropics. Their most famous representative is carob, from the seeds of which they make cough syrup and gum, which is used in the food industry. Its seeds have a mass of about 0.19 g, which formed the basis of a measure of weight. jewelry- carat. by the most large tree is a Malacca compass, having a height of about 82 m and a trunk diameter of about 1.5 m.

The Mimosa subfamily includes mimosa itself, as well as many types of acacias.

The most numerous taxonomic unit of the family legume class Dicotyledonous plants are a subfamily of Moths. Previously, the entire family was called that way. This includes various agricultural plants called legumes: peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, rank, soybeans. Some of the wild plants are used in livestock feeding: clover, sainfoin, alfalfa and others.

Many plants of this family are medicinal: fenugreek, licorice, etc.

There are representatives who are famous for their decorative effect: perennial lupine, acacia, sweet peas and others.

Spreading

The characteristics of the legume family also require clarification of their range. They grow on everything the globe. In tropical, boreal and warm climates, they form the dominant part of the local vegetation. In the cold zone, their numbers are small, but there are plants that grow in such conditions. They are able to survive in conditions of lack of moisture on clay soils, can also grow on the sands, some representatives are found in the mountains at an altitude of up to 5000 m. In the tropics and subtropics, they constitute the dominant species.

Reproduction and movement

Seeds of representatives of the legume family are distributed different ways. Most of them, which have found application in agricultural production, are self-pollinated, that is, pollination occurs with the flowers of one plant. Pollen matures in the anther, as it reaches readiness, the latter bursts, and it is carried by wind or insects.

Water and wind play an important role in movement. The fruits of the Malacca compass have pterygoid outgrowths, with the help of which they can scatter tens of meters. Other plants have a variety of hooks with which they cling to various animals, and they are carried by them. different places. In some representatives, a mature fruit can be opened by cracking with the help of two valves. They twist with force, which contributes to the spread of seeds within a meter radius from the plant.

Legume seeds remain viable for a long time, which in some plants can reach 10 years or more.

Nutritional composition and energy value

Plants that are part of the family under consideration differ sharply in nutritional value and calorie content of the economically valuable part, depending on the species. So, the beans that gave the name to the taxonomic unit contain:

6% protein;
9% carbohydrates;
0.1% fat.

At the same time, their the energy value is 57 kcal per 100 g.

Soy contains:

more than 30% protein;
up to 20% fat;
about 25% carbohydrates, which makes it a very high-calorie product.

Its energy value is about 400 kcal per 100 g.

Chemical composition

The main advantage of representatives of the legume family is the high content of high-quality protein. It is comparable to animal protein in essential amino acids, and in some plants even surpasses it. Thus, pea protein contains more tryptophan compared to meat, and soy protein contains more than chicken eggs. The content of lysine in peas is 5 times higher than in wheat, and in soybeans - 10 times.

Most legumes are low fat, which makes them suitable for low calorie diets. Professional nutritionists do not recommend using legume-only mono-diets.

Soybean oil contains polyunsaturated fatty acid. Their quantity is enough to break down cholesterol plaques on blood vessels. Therefore, soybeans are among the crops from which it is possible to produce products that can prevent atherosclerosis.

It is also used to make products that are substitutes for familiar products: tofu, soy milk and others.

Plants of this family are rich in macro- and microelements, as well as vitamins. They contribute to the removal of various toxins from the body. They also remove excess cholesterol from the body.

The danger of legumes when eaten

The legume family (some representatives) is characterized by the presence of purine bases, which are contraindicated in vascular diseases. Also, they should not be consumed in large quantities in atherosclerosis and urolithiasis.

The same soy contains trypsin inhibitors in its composition, therefore, it requires careful heat treatment.

Legumes in large quantities are a heavy food for the digestive tract.

Black vetch contains hydrocyanic acid in its composition, and in large quantities can cause food poisoning.

Many of them contribute to gas formation in the intestines.

Symptoms of poisoning:

headache;
nausea;
vomit;
icteric epidermis;
brown urine with a characteristic odor.

During preliminary heat treatment, the risk of poisoning tends to zero.

Finally

Representatives of the legume family include many species of various life forms found everywhere. They enrich the soil with nitrogen, and also accumulate nitrogen in the form of protein compounds in their economically valuable part. Feature- the presence of nodule bacteria that are in symbiosis with plants. Used in the food and feed industry. However, they should be consumed in moderation, and it is better with a preliminary heat treatment.

Legumes are a large family of the dicotyledonous class. It includes more than 20 thousand species. Legumes include herbs, shrubs, and trees. A number of representatives of herbaceous leguminous plants are valuable human food products (soybeans, beans, beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, etc.). Other members of the legume family: sweet pea, acacia, clover, sweet clover, rank.

The main features by which different representatives legumes are combined into one family, are the structure of their flower and fruit.

The legume flower in most species consists of 5 sepals, 5 petals, one pistil and ten stamens. At the same time, the structure of the flower is unique; it has bilateral, and not radial, symmetry, like flowers of other families. The largest petal of a flower is called sail, two petals on the sides of the sail are oars, the two lower petals grow together, forming boat. The pistil is, as it were, inside the boat and is surrounded by stamens. In many types of legumes, 9 stamens grow together, and one remains free.

The name legume comes from the name of the fruit that is formed in plants of this family. It's a fruit bean. It is a dry, usually multi-seeded fruit. The bean has two wings that open when ripe. Seeds grow on these valves. A distinction should be made between the bean fruit and the pod fruit. The pod has a partition between the valves, and the seeds grow on the partition. While legumes are often referred to as pods, they are actually beans.

The herbaceous members of the legume family often form nodules on their roots. Bacteria that can absorb atmospheric nitrogen live in such nodules. They enrich the plant with nitrogen-containing organic matter. The leguminous plant, in turn, provides them with nutrients. Thus, a symbiosis occurs between the plant and bacteria. Nodules on the roots are not a cluster of bacteria, as the bacteria are very small. This is the division of root cells caused by bacteria, as well as an increase in their size. When the legume dies, it enriches the soil with nitrogen. Therefore, legumes are often used for soil reclamation.

Legumes (and their seeds) are high in protein.

According to the structure of stems and leaves, representatives of the legume family differ from each other. The inflorescences are often racemes (lupins) or heads (clover).

cultivated leguminous plants

The legume family includes many plants that are of nutritional importance to humans. The most famous are listed below.

Peas widely distributed, used by man for food since ancient times. Its seeds germinate at temperatures slightly above zero, but require a lot of moisture (as well as the plant itself). Peas are valuable for a large amount of protein contained in it. The root system is taproot, nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria are formed on the lateral roots. Upper parts complex leaves peas are transformed into antennae, with which he clings to a support. The structure of the flower is characteristic of legumes. Before flowering, self-pollination occurs.

Beans came to us from South America where it has been cultivated since ancient times. edible different varieties beans can be either seeds or beans themselves.

soy grown in many countries for soy protein, oil and starch. Soy is made from many different food products(it is a substitute for meat, dairy products, sweets are also made from it, etc.).

beans(not to be confused with the name of the fetus) are more often fodder plants. Usually their stem is long more than a meter. Beans are unpretentious.

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