干旱地区优良饲用植物——沙生木地肤

Excellent feeding plants in arid region—Kochia prostrate

沙生木地肤是木地肤新变种，为木地肤的沙地“生态型”，具有抗寒性强、耐盐碱、耐沙埋等特性。其草质柔和，适口性好，营养丰富，各类牲畜四季喜食，沙生木地肤种子为短命种子，入冬前播种或早春播种为宜；种子成熟时容易脱落，注意及时收获，沙生木地肤自然寿命长达20～30年，很适合用来兴建永久性人工草地，也可与西伯利亚冰草、毛沙芦草混作，提高产量及适口性。

Kochia prostrate （Kochia prostrate （L.） Schrad. var. horxina D. S. Wen） with the features of strong cold, salinity, and sand burial resistance is a new variant of Kochia prostrate, which is the sandy ecotype of Kochia prostrate. All kinds of livestock like it, because it has soft herbaceous foliage, good palatability, and eutrophy. It is appropriate to sow the seeds either before winter or in early spring because of its ephemeral seeds, and the harvest should be in time as seed is likely fall off when it matures. Kochia prostrate has a long life span between 20-30 years, and is appropriate to build eternal artificial grassland. Meanwhile to improve its production and palatability, it can be mixed cultivated with Agropyron sibiricum and A. mongolicum Keng.