###### Abstract
As a valuable fodder, food and medicinal crop, it has been grown in the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and some other countries [8; 9; 10]. Currently, the area under use for Jerusalem artichoke growth is globally about 2.5 million hectares; in France, for example, it is almost equal to the area under use for potato growth. Despite a shortage of arable land, China has intensively been developing its JA production. Jerusalem artichoke is grown as a vegetable crop in many countries, e.g., Italy, Spain and Germany. It is imported in small quantities to Russia as a vegetable crop [11; 12; 13]. Jerusalem artichoke is cultivated on an area of only about 3 thousand hectares in Russia, mainly in the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Lipetsk, Tver, Ryazan, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Kostroma, Volgograd, Omsk, Bryansk, Moscow, Saratov, Yaroslavl, as well as, in the Republic of Chuvashia, the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions [7; 8]. There are more than 200 Jerusalem artichoke species, most of them being herbaceous like sunflowers, some being semi-shrubs, and very few being real shrubs up to 5-7 m in height [4]. [PERSON], an individual entrepreneur, the head of a farm in the Kameshkovskiy district, the Vladimir region, is sure that Jerusalem artichoke is a very unpretentious plant [14; 15] (Figure 1). World experience in the cultivation of Jerusalem artichoke has shown that the plant does best in areas with a temperate climate [16; 17; 18]. It does well on different soils, excluding acidic, saline and waterlogged soils. It thrives even on nutrient-poor soils. The plant has a high reproduction rate and good frost and drought resistance. It easily tolerates spring frosts and autumn cold snaps [16; 17; 19]. Thus, it is vital to choose a cultivar suitable both for soil and climatic conditions. Otherwise, a cultivar that is not adapted to local environments will  
Figure 1: Areas planted with artichoke at the farm household headed by [PERSON], an individual entrepreneur (village Serebrovo, Kameshkovskiy district, Vladimir region). result in poor-quality production and low plant productivity [20; 21; 22], as the geographical location of the area for JA cultivation is crucial to ensure maximum yield [23; 24; 25]. However, in the majority of cases, attention has been drawn mainly to the physiological aspects of this species, while agronomical practices are still not well developed. Since Jerusalem arthoke is a short-day crop, the productivity of a cultivar depends on its photoperiodic sensitivity and adaptive ability to local growing conditions. In this regard, the photosynthetic activity of cultivars is very different and it also depends on the degree of their short-day duration, as well as on the ecological and geographical conditions of cultivation [26]. The total leaf area of plants is an indicator of the photosynthetic activity and productivity of each cultivar [25; 27; 28]. The aboveground mass of Jerusalem arthoke can be applied for livestock feeding in the form of green top dressing, hay or in silage [15; 20; 29]. Possessing the ability to regrow after grazing, Jerusalem arthoke can also be used as a pasture crop. Herbage in its nutritional value is not inferior and even surpasses other fodder crops [3; 30; 31]. The yield of herbage and digestible protein from Jerusalem artichoke per 1 hectare is 2-4 times higher than that of other forage plants. Silage from Jerusalem artichoke herbage is second only to corn silage in nutritional value; it surpasses sunflower silage in taste. It is readily eaten by cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and rabbits. The digestible protein content is 1.2% per 100 kg of JA herbage silage, 0.8% for sunflower silage and 0.6% for corn silage, respectively. [4; 32; 33]. The value of Jerusalem artichoke as a fodder, vegetable, industrial and medicinal crop is determined, first of all, by the chemical composition of the plant [6; 34; 35]. Herbage serves as a source of potassium, magnesium, calcium, etc. [4; 30; 36].