Introduction The agriculture needs to embrace new technologies and adapt to policies and practices aimed at raising the production and mitigating the causes and impacts of the climate change. These activities require incorporating measures to maintain the sustainability of water, soil and energy resources, while at the same time delivering on increasing the standards for environmental protection and food quality. Legumes are likely to have a greatly increased role and their use will offset the needs for other protein feeds and mineral N fertilizers. Legume forages play an important role in the productivity of ruminants. The fodder of galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) is a new perennial, rich in protein, leguminous fodder crop belonging to the family of Fabaceae, native from the spontaneous fl ora of the Caucasus forested slopes and river valleys. After sowing, it can be used for 15-20 years as food for the livestock. Due to the important biological properties of galega, it can be used for socio-ecological proposes, namely to improve soil fertility by accumulating nitrogen; enriching with organic matter and increasing the amount of humus; to decrease soil permeability, erosion and for soil preservation. This plant species is studied and used in Europe, Asia, America, not only as a source of obtaining fodder, but also as raw material for bioenergetics. Material and methods The fodder of galega, the cultivar Speranta, created in the Botanical Garden (Institute) of the ASM and registered in 1997 in the catalogue of plant varieties of the Republic of Moldova, served as object of study. The nutritive value was examined: in period of sprout development, fl owering and after harvesting of the seeds.  Results and discussions As a result of the researches, it has been found that the fi rst mowing at the end of April and the fi rst days of May ensures 14.5 t/ha fresh mass with an increased content of leaves (63%) in a critical period for providing the livestock with feed. The early harvesting of the plants allows obtaining 2 - 3 more mowing during the season with a total yield of 68.5 t/ha and 14.2 t/ha of dry matter. The dry matter content in the fresh mass from the fi rst mowing is reduced (10.52%). The dry matter of the green mass harvested in period of sprout development contains 26.19 % raw protein, 3.51% fat, 15.02 % cellulose, 45.51% nitrogenous free extractive substances, 9.77 % ash. In the budding - fl owering phase, the green mass yield constitutes about 48.9 - 52.7 t/ha with a dry matter content of 24.9%. The forage value is determined by the high content of raw protein (16.49%), 3.71% fat, 35.02 % cellulose, 37.92% nitrogenous free extractive substances and 6.82 % ash. A special peculiarity of this species is that after the ripening of the seeds, the shoots are green (the foliage constitutes about 36% of the total mass) and can be used to obtain valuable fodder (36.31 t/ha). The quality of the fodder is determined by the optimal content of protein (13.90%), fat (3.26%), cellulose (31.13%) and nitrogenous free extractive substances (43.73%). Conclusions The nutritive value of the fodder obtained from Galega orientalis is satisfactory at all the studied phases of development of the plants and the highest nutritive value - when the plants are harvested in the budding - fl owering phase.