Objective:                 

To evaluate the agronomic performance of forage barley with different nitrogen fertilizer rates in environments and cropping systems representative of northwestern Montana             

Personnel:                 

Clint Beiermann,Jessica Pavelka

Summary:

Forage barley was planted on April 29th, 2022 with four different nitrogen rates of 47, 114, 182, and 249 lbs/A (Table 1), and five different varieties (Table 2).  

N rates had an influence on all aspects tested. Variety influenced the ADF %, NDF %, heading date, heading height, grain yield, grain protein, and test weight. The highest yielding variety was MT16F01601 at 182 lbs/A N, while the lowest averaging forage yield came from the five varieties given 47 lbs/A N. The lowest forage yield came from MT17M02507 at 182 lbs/A N, although it had the highest grian yield at 106.7 bu/A. The highest grain protein was 14.5% in Cowgirl at 249 lbs/A N, and the lowest was 9.3% from MT17M02507 at 47 lbs/A N (Table 2).

Forage yield increased with N plateauing at about 1.5 N (182 lbs N/ac) (Figure 1). Nitrates increased with N, however, most varieties had acceptable nitrates at and below 1.5 N (Figure 2). NDF and ADF were relatively stable across N treatments (Figure 3). If a grower could feed an awned line, then from the data MT17MO2507 performs well for forage yield and outperforms all other lines for grain yield.

 

Table 1. Management information

Seeding date: 4/29/2022 Field Location: Y9
Julian date: 119 Harvest date: 8/18/2022
Seeding rate: 25 plants/ft2 Julian date: 230
Previous crop: Canola Soil type: Swims Silty Clay Loam
Herbicide: Axial Bold + Cleansweep - 6/1/22 Tillage: Conventional
Insecticide: NA

Soil residual nutrient

(NO3-1, P, K lb/A):

47-40-342-30s
Fungicide: NA Nutrient fertilizer applied (lbs/A): 0, 67, 135, 202 N

 

Table 2. Agronomic performance

Variety/Line N treatment Forage YLD2 Nitrate2 ADF1,2 NDF1,3 HD1,3 HT1,2 Grain YLD1,2 Grain PRO1,2 Test WT1,3
    tons/A mg/L     julian cm bu/A % lbs/bu
Lavina 0x 2.4 0.0 34.4 61.1 185 55.5 28.5 11.3 46.9
Cowgirl 0x 2.1 0.0 35.4 61.0 183 61.6 24.6 11.9 46.9
MMT18F00803 0x 2.2 0.0 32.7 57.5 185 56.7 33.1 11.1 43.4
MT16F01601 0x 2.4 0.0 32.7 57.3 183 57.8 32.7 11.3 46.6
MT17M02507 0x 2.0 0.0 34.5 60.2 183 59.7 49.2 9.3 51.0
Lavina 1x 3.9 12.4 35.1 60.8 186 70.9 34.8 11.8 46.8
Cowgirl 1x 4.2 0.0 36.5 62.4 185 83.2 30.2 12.2 46.3
MMT18F00803 1x 4.5 55.1 33.0 57.2 186 80.7 41.7 12.0 45.0
'MT16F01601 1x 4.1 34.9 33.3 57.1 183 82.4 48.8 12.1 47.7
MT17M02507 1x 4.5 7.6 35.4 60.3 184 81.5 90.4 9.9 52.0
Lavina 1.5x 5.2 469.7 36.6 62.4 185 90.2 40.7 14.0 46.4
Cowgirl 1.5x 4.9 405.9 36.4 61.6 185 96.5 34.1 14.4 45.7
MMT18F00803 1.5x 4.8 142.5 33.4 58.0 187 85.1 53.6 13.5 44.9
'MT16F01601 1.5x 5.5 130.4 35.3 61.1 184 92.5 56.9 13.4 47.1
MT17M02507 1.5x 1.9 511.2 35.7 61.4 184 89.1 106.7 10.8 52.3
Lavina 2x 4.5 386.0 35.2 60.5 186 89.5 42.6 13.9 45.8
Cowgirl 2x 5.3 1066.5 36.8 61.9 185 99.9 46.9 14.5 45.9
MMT18F00803 2x 5.0 317.2 33.3 58.2 187 87.4 38.7 14.1 44.5
'MT16F01601 2x 5.3 510.4 34.3 59.0 183 90.8 57.5 14.2 46.3
MT17M02507 2x 5.4 603.9 36.1 61.9 184 91.5 101.1 11.0 52.0
 MEAN   4.2 232.7 34.8 60.0 184 80.3 49.6 12.3 47.2
LSD   0.4 219.3 0.5 0.9 0.6 3 6 0.3 0.5
CV   16.1 148.8 2.3 2.3 0.5 5.9 19.2 4.1 1.6
1Trait variance due to variety P<.001, 2Trait variance due to N Treatment P<.00001, 3P<0.05
Bold = top performer, Bold = statistically equivalent to the top performer
 YLD = yield, HD = heading date, HT = height, PRO = protein, WT = weight

 

Line graph of forage yield over nitrogen rate

Figure 1. Forage yield with N treatment

 

Line graph of nitrate levels over nitrogen rates

Figure 2. Nitrate with N treatment

 

Line graph of ADF% over nitrogen rates

Figure 3. Acid detergent fiber with N treatment