MCVET Annual Forages evaluation
MCVET
Shawn Kabak & Tim Clark, ARD
To test registered varieties of annual forages for yield and feed quality.
Forage species differed in dry matter forage yield when tested at Arborg site. Spring Triticale had the lowest yield whereas millets and Haymaker Oats produced higher forage yield. Millets also showed potential to produce significant yield during the second cut.
Cool season annual forage crops such as oats, fall rye, rye grass, barley, wheat, winter triticale, winter wheat are being used and researched extensively in Canada. (McCartney et al 2008). Warm season annual forage crops include corn, sorghum, sorghum-sudan, millets, brassica crops, hybrids, turnips and other root crops are being considered as potential and need to be researched for forage use in Canada (McCartney et al 2009). Grazing season in the Prairies had been extended by some farmers with the adoption of methods such as stockpile grazing, swath grazing, bale grazing and corn grazing over the winter (Hewitt et al 2016).
A study done by May et al (2007) in south western Saskatchewan found that warm season species such as Golden German foxtail millet yielded similar forage biomass to oats and barley under normal conditions. On the other hand, this study also concluded that warm season crops of sorghum-sudangrass are not suitable for swath grazing in Saskatchewan due to poor and inconsistent emergence at either early (May 15) or late (June 10) seeding dates. However, sorghum –Sudan grass, Proso millets and hybrids had advantage over corn for their drought tolerance (McCartney et al 2009). Proso millet is considered advantageous to replace a failed seeded crop as it matures rapidly. Oats and barley dry forage yield were out yielded by Proso and Crown millet forage dry matter yields under moderate precipitation and by Golden German foxtail millet yields under high precipitation. In addition, crude protein (CP) concentration of Proso, Crown and Golden German foxtail millet (93-97 g kg-1 DM) were sufficient to meet nutritional requirements for cattle winter grazing and weathering in the swath did not reduce feed quality (May et al 2007).
Under Manitoban conditions, Hewitt et al. 2016 assessed seven annual forages (oats, barley, fall rye, annual rye, corn, soybeans, and foxtail millet) for nutritive value and yield potential for stockpile grazing. They found that crude protein content was highest in fall rye (21.0%), followed by soybeans (17.0%) and was lowest in corn (8.3%). Conversely, corn, on average, exhibited the highest yield and TDN of all treatments. Despite an average yield of Golden German foxtail millet of 10.9 t DM ha-1, CP concentration (8.3%) and TDN (56%) were low relative to the other annual treatments.
In the Interlake region of Manitoba, higher forage yield was recorded either in cereals grown alone or in blends (Oats and Barley together), however, higher protein content was recorded in cereal / peas blends (PESAI Annual report 2020).