Triple Cropping Systems of Spring Maize, Tropical Grass of Teff (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Eragrostis tef&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;) and Winter Cereal Crops to Combine Total Digestible Nutrient Yield with Protein Concentration in Southern Kyushu, Japan

Sachiko Idota,Yasuyuki Ishii,Manabu Tobisa,Yukimi Nakata

doi:10.4236/as.2018.91010

Abstract

It is ordinarily common for forage production in southern Kyushu to adopt a double cropping system, composed of summer forage crops (e.g. maize and sorghum) cultivated from late March to early September, and winter grass crops (e.g. Italian ryegrass (IR) and oat) from mid-October to the following May. However, if high total digestible nutrient (TDN) production is aimed to introduce winter cereal crops (e.g. wheat and barley) as a replacement of IR, it is necessary to cultivate tropical grass, which has a rapid-growth potential with high crude protein (CP) concentration in a switching period between summer and winter crops. In this study, teff (Eragrostis tef) was tried to evaluate as a candidate crop in the switching period. Yield and quality of two types of triple forage cropping system were determined under maize-teff-barley and maize-teff-wheat in the first and second year, respectively. Compared with the normal year, summer temperature was higher and summer and winter precipitations were lower in the first year, while no climatic disorder was observed in the second year. Even though dry matter yield of teff was minimal in the present system due to weed damage, CP concentration was the highest among crops and TDN yields of the present cropping system tended to be higher in the second year with no drought stress than in the conventional maize-IR system in the region.

Highlights

Since climatic conditions of annual temperature at 17.0 ̊C and annual precipitation above 2500 mm are suitable to a double cropping system of soiling crops production in southern Kyushu, summer crops such as maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench) are ordinarily cultivated from late March to early September and winter crops such as Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam., IR) and oat (Avena sativa L.) from mid-October to the following May
Even though dry matter yield of teff was minimal in the present system due to weed damage, crude protein (CP) concentration was the highest among crops and total digestible nutrient (TDN) yields of the present cropping system tended to be higher in the second year with no drought stress than in the conventional maize-IR system in the region
In the present study, newly introduced tropical grass of teff was tried to be cultivated in the switching period from summer to winter crops, and yield and quality of triple forage cropping system of maize, teff and other cereal crops of barley or wheat were determined for two cropping seasons in southern Kyushu

Summary

Introduction

Since climatic conditions of annual temperature at 17.0 ̊C and annual precipitation above 2500 mm are suitable to a double cropping system of soiling crops production in southern Kyushu, summer crops such as maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench) are ordinarily cultivated from late March to early September and winter crops such as Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam., IR) and oat (Avena sativa L.) from mid-October to the following May. Teff (Eragrostis tef (Zuccagni) Trotter) is cultivated as a staple food crop in Ethiopia for many centuries [2] with self-pollinated and annual tropical grass species. This food crop has an attention as gluten-free and high content of minerals, which is an alternative to wheat [3] [4]. In the present study, newly introduced tropical grass of teff was tried to be cultivated in the switching period from summer to winter crops, and yield and quality of triple forage cropping system of maize, teff and other cereal crops of barley or wheat were determined for two cropping seasons in southern Kyushu

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