Abstract. We have studied the biological peculiarities, productivity, nutritional value of the species Medicago falcata L., Medicago varia Mart., Medicago tianschanica Vass., Medicago borealis Grossh., Medicago hemicycla Grossh., Medicago polychroa Grossh., Medicago difalcata Sinsk., Onobrychis arenaria (Kit.) DC, Onobrychis inermis Steven, which were cultivated in the collection of non-traditional forage plants of the Botanical Garden (Institute) of the ASM. Traditional fodder leguminous crops, alfalfa Medicago sativa L. and sainfoin Onobrychis viciifolia Scop., were used as control variant. The species Medicago tianschanica, Medicago varia and Medicago polychroa have a productivity of 1.79-2.14 kg/m2 natural forage surpassing by 9-27% Medicago sativa, with a nutritive value of 0.20-0.25 nutritive units/kg and a digestible protein content of 196.2-211.6 g/nutritive unit. The species Onobrychis arenaria and Onobrychis inermis reach a height of 113-141 cm and a productivity of 3.9-5.2 kg/m2natural forage, with a nutritive value of 0.23-0.25 nutritive units/kg and a digestible protein content of 154.1-168.2 g/nutritive units, a high amount of carotene and a low amount of nitrates.

Key words: biological peculiarities, nutritional value, productivity, species of genus Medicago, species of genus Onobrychis.

Presentation: oral