Winter survival and yield of early-seeded winter wheat and triticale

Abstract

On the Canadian prairies, winter cereals such as rye (Secale cereale L.), triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L. EM Thell) have shown potential for forage production when spring-seeded as monocrops (WMC) or as intercrops (IC) and doublecrops (DC) in binary combinations with barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) or oat (Avena sativa L.). Producers are frequently tempted to overwinter the winter cereals for seed production in the second year. The current study evaluated the influence of forage harvest during the establishment year on the winter hardiness and seed production of winter wheat and triticale in the WMC, IC, and DC cropping systems. Clippings of the WMC and IC as well as planting of the DC were timed to correspond to jointing (DS1), boot (DS2), late milk (DS3) and grain harvest (DS4). Planting of the winter cereal after grain harvest (DS4) of the spring cereal simulated the conventional cropping system. All plots were clipped in late fall to remove aftermath prior to overwintering. Consequently treatments first clipped at DS1 received five clippings compared with DS4 which received only two clippings. Subsequent winter survival and grain yield of both winter species were reduced in the WMC and IC compared with DC treatments. However, increasing the frequency of clipping during the year of establishement in the WMC and IC improved grain yield and winter survival in the winter wheat compared with treatments receiving less frequent or no clipping. Less consistent results were observed for winter triticale. Overwintering spring-planted winter wheat and triticale is not a suitable means for seed production compared with conventional fall planting or reseeding to spring cereals. Key words: Spring cereals, winter cereals, winter survival