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Virginia Cooperative Extension - Knowledge for the CommonWealth

Small Grain Forage Variety Testing, 2006

Crop and Soil Environmental News, October 2006
Wade Thomason, Extension Grains Specialist, Dave Starner, Superintendent Northern Piedmont AREC, Steve Gulick, Technician, Northern Piedmont AREC, Alvin Hood, Technician, Northern Piedmont AREC

A forage production trial of commercial barley, oat, rye, triticale, and wheat cultivars has been conducted yearly from 1994-2006 at the Northern Piedmont AREC, Orange.  Long-term results were published in 2004 and are available on the web at http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/forage/418-019/418-019.pdf

This report presents the results and precipitation from this trial in the 2005-06 growing season.
 
Management and Weather
Preplant fertilizer of 25-64-36-36S was applied on October 3, 2005.  Plots were planted on Oct. 5, 2005 and were seven, seven inch rows wide by 16 feet long.  Tiller counts were made on March 13, 2006 and 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre as UAN was applied on March 8, 2006.  The plots were harvested for forage yield at the boot (GS 45) and soft dough (GS 85) stages for barley, oats, triticale, and wheat and at the boot and flowering stages for rye.  The entire length of the plots was harvested with a 12-inch Jari sickle-bar mower and weighed with a tripod and hanging (milk) scale.  

Precipitation for the growing season, compared to the 58 year average, is listed below.

 

2005-06

58 yr. avg.

Inches

October

8.56

3.36

November

2.72

3.34

December

2.88

2.99

January

1.99

2.79

February

1.71

2.63

March

0.16

3.55

April

2.88

3.03

May

2.15

3.79

Total

23.05

25.48

Results
Results are reported for 35 percent dry matter (DM), DM yield, and nutritive value for oats, wheat, barley, rye, and triticale crops. 

Experimental plots vary in yield and other measurements due to their location in the field and other factors which cannot be controlled. The statistics given in the tables are intended to help the reader make valid comparisons between cultivars. The magnitude of differences which may have been due to experimental error has been computed for the data and listed at the bottom of columns as the LSD (.05) (least significant difference with 95 percent confidence). Differences must be greater that the LSD to be believed to truly exist.

Table 1
Small Grain Forage Variety Test
Northern Piedmont AREC, Orange, VA 2005-2006
Boot Stage
Cultivar
Species
Harvest
Date
Height
(inches)
% Ground
Cover
Lodging %
% Crude
Protein
ADF %
NDF %
TDN %
35% DM Yield
(tons/ac)
DM Yield
(tons/ac)
Thoroughbred
B
4/20
27
27
0
17.88
28.90
52.00
72
6.05
2.12
Starling
B
4/18
28
28
0
18.85
28.90
51.45
70
5.79
2.03
Doyce
B
4/18
26
26
0
17.20
29.25
53.75
70
5.20
1.82
Price
B
4/18
22
22
0
19.08
27.88
51.05
71
4.29
4.50
Nomini
B
4/14
24
24
0
18.40
28.35
49.48
73
4.27
1.49
 
SS 76-40
O
4/20
18
18
0
18.98
26.28
45.40
72
5.82
2.04
SS 76-30
O
4/20
21
21
0
17.38
25.63
46.08
73
6.55
2.29
 
Wheeler
R
4/20
46
46
25
20.23
28.63
55.10
69
9.36
3.28
Early Grazer
R
4/3
35
35
0
18.08
26.18
49.15
73
6.55
2.29
 
Trical 85
T
4/24
29
29
0
16.75
31.88
57.45
69
12.89
4.51
Trical 2700
T
4/24
39
39
01
15.68
33.35
57.95
69
10.58
3.70
Trical 103 BB
T
4/27
44
44
34
15.98
31.75
55.88
68
10.16
3.55
Trical 498
T
4/14
25
25
0
17.73
28.00
50.68
71
7.89
2.76
Trical 336
T
4/20
30
30
0
16.23
29.08
51.93
70
7.61
2.67
Trical 2115
T
4/18
26
26
0
17.38
29.03
51.20
71
7.40
2.59
 
SS MPV 57
W
4/24
32
32
0
16.58
30.63
54.05
69
10.09
3.53
Jackson
W
4/24
28
28
0
16.68
29.65
52.43
70
9.23
3.23
VA02W-555
W
4/20
24
24
0
17.83
27.05
50.60
71
7.28
2.55
Sisson
W
4/18
27
27
0
17.53
26.20
48.18
72
7.20
2.52
VA03W-235
W
4/20
25
25
0
18.38
27.63
50.20
71
6.72
2.35
Featherstone 176
W
4/20
26
26
0
16.70
26.60
49.88
71
6.26
2.19
McCormick
W
4/20
20
20
0
17.68
27.13
48.98
71
5.31
1.86
LSD 0.05
 
 
 
 
 
1.87
 
 
 
2.31
0.81
B - Barley, O - Oat, R - Rye, T - Triticale, W - Wheat

Table 2
Small Grain Forage Variety Test
Northern Piedmont AREC, Orange, VA 2005-2006
Soft Dough Stage
Cultivar
Species
Harvest
Date
Height
(inches)
Lodging %
% Crude
Protein
ADF %
NDF %
TDN %
35% DM Yield
(tons/ac)
DM Yield
(tons/ac)
Thoroughbred
B
5/18
37
0
10.33
30.57
53.40
70
16.49
5.77
Starling
B
5/15
40
0
12.53
32.83
54.00
67
16.22
5.68
Doyce
B
5/15
36
0
11.30
33.48
55.75
67
14.75
5.16
Nomini
B
5/15
39
0
10.70
34.65
57.50
67
13.94
4.88
Price
B
5/15
32
0
12.90
31.42
53.50
68
12.67
4.43
 
SS 76-40
O
5/19
77
0
12.75
29.68
53.70
72
12.77
4.47
SS 76-30
O
5/15
75
0
12.68
31.35
54.15
69
12.49
4.37
 
Wheeler
R
5/15
64
69
11.98
38.33
64.33
63
17.70
63.19
Early Grazer
R
4/24
62
13
13.53
38.80
64.90
62
12.04
4.21
 
Trical 2700
T
6/7
63
15
6.13
41.28
65.85
63
28.80
10.08
Trical 103BB
T
6/9
66
35
7.03
40.33
63.28
63
26.40
9.24
Trical 815
T
6/9
52
0
7.13
39.53
64.68
61
26.30
9.20
Trical 336
T
6/9
50
0
7.15
39.63
62.83
63
24.48
8.57
Trical 498
T
6/7
45
0
6.55
40.45
65.28
63
23.81
8.33
Trical 2115
T
6/7
41
0
8.03
39.33
64.15
62
23.67
8.18
 
SS MPV 57
W
6/1
42
0
8.03
33.08
55.18
65
24.43
8.55
VA02W-235
W
6/1
38
0
8.60
32.33
52.23
68
23.34
8.17
Jackson
W
6/1
40
0
9.13
30.53
49.38
68
22.94
8.03
VA02W-555
W
6/1
34
0
8.70
32.33
53.38
67
22.20
7.77
Sisson
W
5/30
37
0
10.28
31.73
51.83
68
21.92
7.67
Featherstone 176
W
5/30
39
0
9.33
32.60
53.75
66
19.88
6.96
McCormick
W
5/30
34
0
7.88
35.35
57.53
66
18.78
6.57
LSD 0.05
 
 
 
 
1.82
 
 
 
3.46
1.21
B - Barley, O - Oat, R - Rye, T - Triticale, W - Wheat
Rye harvested at flowering.

The results from 2006 as well as long-term results and summaries are available in Excel format at http://www.grains.cses.vt.edu/grains/small_grain/SG_grain.htm.  Click the link to Small Grain Forage Variety Testing (Excel).

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