Forage yield and quality potential of winter cereal-vetch mixtures<br>under rainfed conditions

Abstract

Livestock in rainfed area of Pothwar often faces green fodder scarcity during winter months and thus has to survive on cereal residues of previous crops such as wheat straw, summer sorghum, corn stalk etc. which are not rich source of protein and digestible nutrients. The basic objective of this experiment is to produce more fodder for livestock production and food for community. The investigations were carried out to evaluate the yield and quality of oat (Avena sativa L.), barely (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) in pure stands as well as in mixture of 50:50 ratios with common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) under rainfed conditions of Pothowar to address the problem of nutritious green fodder for livestock in the region. From the result of this study, it is evident that oatvetch mixture performed better under rainfed conditions of Pothowar in terms of green and dry matter yield. By this mixture, 37.97 tons ha green and 9.28 ton ha dry matter yield were obtained which are 20 % higher than the pure stand of oat respectively. Similarly, it was found that overall oat + vetch, mixture yielded 63% and 78% higher dry matter than barley + vetch and wheat-vetch mixtures, respectively. Cereal + vetch mixture also produced higher crude protein content than their respective pure stands. Oats-vetch, barley + vetch and wheat + vetch resulted in 11.31%, 7.04% and 5.80% higher crude protein contents than their cereal pure stands respectively. With the advancement of growth stage, green fodder yield increased progressively while reverse was observed for qualitative traits. Maximum green fodder yield was obtained at 50% heading stage while maximum crude protein content was achieved at tillering stage in this study. On the basis of these field qualitative and quantitative investigations, cereal + vetch mixture is recommended for both obtaining higher tonnage and nutritious fodder under the rainfed conditions of Pothowar.