Winter cereals grown for grain and for the dual purpose of forage plus grain I. Production

Abstract

In many rainfed regions of Euro-Mediterranean countries, current political and socio-economic developments demand research in alternative production systems to the common cereal grain monoculture. We studied the option of producing forage in winter by growing cereals for dual purpose (forage plus grain) in a Mediterranean environment. The effect of clipping on forage and grain production was assessed between 1987 and 1990 at Granada, southern Spain, in four cereal cultivars, and in one barley cultivar under three sowing systems. Winter forage yield of cereals, all clipped once at the stage of lemma primordia, was highly variable (25 to 311 g m −2 of herbage dry matter), with considerable differences among cultivars, sowing systems and seasons. Treatments that had higher forage production were those of either longer crop duration before clipping date (with higher leaf numbers on the main stem and tiller numbers per plant) or higher plant density. Forage production was not related to grain yield reductions due to winter clipping. Averaged over cultivars, sowing systems and seasons, clipping reduced grain yield by 1%, but yielded some 127 g m −2 of dry matter per season in a period of pasture shortage. Nevertheless, the responses to winter clipping differed among seasons. In 1987/88, clipped cereals produced more dry matter and grain than the control. In contrast, in the last two seasons, clipping reduced dry matter and grain production. Early sowing modified the response to clipping in these last two seasons. Grain yield of early sown barley was not reduced by clipping in 1988/89 and was even increased in 1989/90. The dual-purpose target for cereals could be an alternative to traditional grain monoculture in some Mediterranean environments, provided that adaptations of the traditional crop management to dual purpose, such as the optimization of sowing date and cultivar, are undertaken.