CHOICE OF COMPONENTS RATIO FOR LAWNS IN ROADSIDE LANDSCAPING
Rapid landscaping effect is important in territory development. For this reason, manufacturers of grass mixtures add fast-evolving species, one of which Lolium perenne is. But such grass mixtures are not longevous. Lolium perenne thins out very fast under conditions of Middle Preduralie. In 2010-2013, some research was conducted with the aim to determine optimal amount for Lolium perenne to be added into grass mixture without reducing the quality indicators of lawn. To create lawn canopy, Festuca rubra variety Sverdlovskaya 37 and Lolium perenne variety TsNA were used. The observation indicated that the number of shoots reduces in the studied grass mixtures in the second year. The cause of this reduction is thinning of Lolium perenne. Thinning is quite high in components ratio: 80% - Festuca rubra +20% - Lolium perenne, where thinning constituted 55 % in compare with the shoots number in the first year. Increasing share of Lolium perenne in the studied grass mixtures does not affect thinning; in grass mixture 50%+50% thinning constituted 72%. The tendency remained in the following years. The grass mixture with components ratio 90% Festuca rubra + 10% Lolium perenne is more long-range, as well as 100 % sowing of Festuca rubra. The given agrocenoses provided lawn of high quality with the projective cover 85-91 % during the period of the experiment.