Barley, Oat, and Cereal–Pea Mixtures as Dryland Forages in the Northern Great Plains

Abstract

ten, 1982a). Barley forage was highest in digestible DM and lowest in acid detergent fiber (ADF) concentra-Oat (Avena spp.) is a popular cereal forage in cool semiarid regions. tions. Crude protein concentration was 16 g kg Ϫ1 greater Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has produced equal or greater amounts of superior quality forage in subhumid regions. The importance of in barley forage than in oat forage. cereal crop, cultivar, and plant part on forage production was deter-The superior quality of barley forage compared with mined in low-soil-N environments in southwestern North Dakota. oat and other cereal forages may result from a greater Barley and oat cultivars, along with intercrops of pea (Pisum sativum proportion of DM occurring as inflorescence in barley. L. subsp. sativum) with barley and oat, were compared for forage More than 25% of barley forage DM consisted of infloyield and quality over 2 yr. Forage dry matter (DM) yield averaged rescence compared with 20% for oat, triticale, and wheat 3.84 Mg ha Ϫ1 for oat compared with 2.91 Mg ha Ϫ1 for barley while forage across six maturity stages in subhumid regions crude protein (CP) concentration of oat forage averaged 61 g kg Ϫ1 (Cherney and Marten, 1982b). The inflorescence was compared with 90 g kg Ϫ1 for barley (P Ͻ 0.05). No difference in forage more digestible and nutritious than other plant compo-N yield occurred between barley and oat. Acid detergent fiber and nents. The leaf blade and sheath of barley also had less neutral detergent fiber concentrations averaged 39 and 41 g kg Ϫ1 lower, respectively, for barley compared with oat forage while Ca lignified area than oat. Similar compositional data are and P concentrations were higher for barley forage. Cultivar selection not available for barley and oat cultivars grown in the within each crop species generally did not affect forage yield or quality.Northern Great Plains. The relative contributions of stem, inflorescence, leaf blade, and leafThe CP concentrations of barley and barley-pea forsheath to forage yield were similar between cereal species and average were superior to those of oat and oat-pea forage in aged 20, 44, 14, and 22%, respectively. Intercropping with pea ina study at Dickinson, ND (Carr et al., 1998). Additional creased forage and N yield. These results suggest that forage yield is cereal forage quality data have been compared in subreduced but quality is enhanced when oat is replaced with barley in humid regions (Cherney and Marten, 1982b) but not in low-soil-N, unfertilized environments. Furthermore, the results indithe Northern Great Plains. Factors in addition to CP cate that forage yield and quality can be enhanced by intercropping concentration are important in determining the nutritive barley or oat with pea.

Efficacy of ¹⁵N-nitrogen in fertilization of pea mixtures with wheat, barley, and oats

“…The highest protein yield was obtained in pea monoculture and in wheatpea mixture at 33% and 57% of cereals (Figure 2). Protein yield of mixtures was always higher than cereals' in a pure stand, and there was an increase in protein yield as the pea proportion raised, which is reported in other studies (Carr et al 2004, Lithourgidis et al 2011.…”

Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience

“…There is limited documented research work on grain intercropping in the NGP and the results of this research are inconsistent. Overyielding and greater yield stability have been observed in some crop combinations and under some conditions, but not in others (Carr et al 1995(Carr et al , 2004Szumigalski and van Acker 2005;Kaut et al 2008;Pridham and Entz 2008;Hummel et al 2009;Nelson et al 2012).…”

“…Mixtures of annual cereals and legumes can produce large amounts of high-quality forage biomass (Carr et al 1998(Carr et al , 2004Strydhorst et al 2008).…”

Nitrogen leaching and residual effect of barley/field bean intercropping

“…Forage obtained from cereal/ legume intercrops (IC) always has a higher quality than that of cereal sole crops (SC), while dry matter yield advantage varies, due to large differences in growth conditions (Dordas and Lithourgidis 2011). Intercrop yield is generally between that of SC (Carr et al 2004, Strydhorst et al 2008, or higher than both of them (Karpenstein-Machan and Stuelpnagel 2000, Ghanbari-Bonjar and Lee 2003, Lithourgidis and Dordas 2010, Mariotti et al 2012. According to Pursiainen and Tuori (2008), also silage produced from a cereal/pulse legume mixture has a higher nutritive value compared to that produced only from cereals, due to the higher concentration of crude protein, a higher degradability of nutrients and a better balance of protein and energy for rumen microbes.…”