Objective:                  

To evaluate the performance of selected barley varieties in northwestern Montana        

Personnel:                     

Clint Beiermann, Pat Carr, Jessica Pavelka

Summary:

Thirteen forage varieties were planted on May 2nd, 2022, and managed under rainfed conditions (Table 1). Species planted included eight varieties of barley, one variety triticale, three varieties of oat, and one variety of spring wheat (Table 2).

Forage biomass was harvested on July 18th and the overall average yield was 8.2 tons/A. There was not a significant effect of variety on forage biomass yield. The average yield of oat was 9.3 tons/A, average yield of barley was 8.1 tons/A, and triticale had an average yield of 8.4 tons/A. The average heading date was 161 julian, however there was no significant difference between heading date based on variety. The highest ADF % and NDF % came from Tritical 141. The highest sulfur content came from MT Cowgirl at .1%, and the average was .073%. The average protein content was 10.1%, with the highest value being 10.9% for MT18F00607 and the lowest at 8.6% for Goliath (Table 2).

 

Table 1. Management information
Seeding date: 5/2/2022 Field Location: X4
Julian date: 122 Harvest date: NA
Seeding rate: NA Julian date: NA
Previous crop: Canola Soil type: Creston Silt Loam
Herbicide: 2,4-D (12fl oz/A) - 6/7/22 Tillage: Conventional
Insecticide: NA

Soil residual nutrient

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

 109-16-312
Fungicide: NA

Nutrient fertilizer applied

(N, P2O5, K20 lb/A):

 4-20-30

 

Table 2. Agronomic performance of spring cereal forage
Variety Type Biomass
 Heading
 ADF
 NDF
 Sulfur Protein
    (tons/A) (julian) (%) (%) (%) (%)
GOLIATH Oat 9.3 163 36.3 59.3 0.050 8.6
LAVINA Barley 7.6 162 29.6 51.5 0.083 10.9
MT COWGIRL Barley 8.9 161 32.4 55.6 0.100 10.8
MT16F01601 Barley 7.5 161 30.3 52.1 0.095 10.2
MT16F02401 Barley 8.1 163 32.2 55.7 0.073 10.6
MT18F00503 Barley 8.3 160 28.4 48.0 0.090 10.3
MT18F00607 Barley 7.7 166 32.8 58.2 0.085 10.9
MT18F00714 Barley 9.6 161 29.6 50.7 0.083 10.2
MT18F00803 Barley 7.1 162 27.8 48.0 0.083 10.5
RUSHMORE Oat 9.1 161 35.3 57.4 0.045 8.9
SD170463 Oat 9.4 160 37.6 61.6 0.030 8.7
TRICAL 141 Triticale 8.4 163 39.9 66.4 0.053 10.6
WB PATRON Spring Wheat 5.3 155 33.0 51.1 0.083 10.7
Mean   8.2 161 32.7 55.0 0.1 10.1
CV   21.2 2.6 4.8 5.3 34.6 7.1
LSD   - - 2.3 4.2 0.0 1.0
PR>F   0.068 0.125 <.001 <.001 0.006 <.001
Bolding denotes equal value to highest or earliest value within a column based on LSD(0.05)
ADF = acid detergent fiber, NDF = neutral detergent fiber