Abstract
Alpine regions in northern China are the traditional animal husbandry base. The lack of high-quality forage supply resulting from degradation of natural grasslands and low forage production due to short growing seasons greatly restricts development of animal husbandry in these areas. Spring oats have been widely planted in cold regions worldwide harvesting as either grains or forages because of their great adaptative ability to low temperatures and early maturation and high nutritional values. To maximize forage and grain production, we developed a dual-purpose model for spring-sown oats in the cold regions of northeastern China using two oat species, Avena nuda L. (cv. Bayou6) and Avena. sativa L. (cv. Qinghai444). Growth, forage production and quality, grain yield, and re-growth ability of the two oats were investigated in field trials and field demonstration. Maximal dry weight was found to occur at 70 days of emergence for both oats with higher forage production and crude protein (CP) in Bayou6 than Qinghai444 oat species. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of the two oats increased with time during the early vegetative growing stage, while the relative feed value showed a decrease during vegetative growing stage. The re-growth ability following cutting for the two oats reduced with increasing growth times during vegetative stage. Plant height, tiller density, CP and NDF contents of re-growing seedlings harvested at 30–40 days of emergence did not significantly differ from those of un-cutting control. The overall cumulative dry weight of biomass following cutting at 30 days of emergence was significantly higher than that of control without cutting in both oat species. Seed yield from plots cut at 30 days of emergence for both oat species was insignificantly different from that of control plots. Harvesting of spring-sown oats at 30 days of emergence enhanced forage production, but it did not influence seed yield. Results from 2-year field demonstration confirmed these conclusions. These findings highlight that this dual-purpose oat management model can have great applications in the cold regions of China.
Highlights
Diversification in crop production systems can decrease risks and improve profit opportunities [1].Crops that provide forage production during vegetative growth and are subsequently harvested for grain are termed “dual-purpose” (DP) [1,2,3]
Plant height and fresh weight in aboveground biomass for both oat species peaked at 50 days after emergence, while the maximal dry weight occurred at 70 days after emergence under our experimental conditions (Figure 1)
We found that dry weight of aboveground biomass for oat Bayou6 was significantly higher than that for Qinghai444 in both the field experiment and field demonstration (Figure 1c, Table 5)
Summary
Crops that provide forage production during vegetative growth and are subsequently harvested for grain are termed “dual-purpose” (DP) [1,2,3]. DP can provide higher production in forage, grain, or both [2,4]. DP forage can cover the seasonal shortage of animal feed with high digestibility and crude protein content, and is conducive to high livestock weight gain [5]. Both experimental and modeling studies have demonstrated that the DP models are more profitable due to income from both forages and grains [4]. DP crops are widely grown in those regions with relatively warmer winters [6]
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