Cereal crop varieties comparison for forage production in Alberta and Peace Region Kabal S. Gill, SARDA Background Winter feeding costs are the largest component of an animal production system in Alberta. Farmers in the Peace Region are looking to minimize winter feeding costs by reducing inputs for forage production and replacing some grain with high quality forage. From the livestock side of production, using higher quality forage can supplement poor quality straw or grass in a mixture or by rotationally feeding/grazing. This allows greater use of lower quality forage as well as reduces waste through limit-feeding and other feed management practices. Spring barley is the most common annual crop grown for hay, green feed or silage. Triticale and oats are grown by some producers. The Alberta Seed Guide (seed.ab.ca) reports varietal agronomic information for cereals, pulses, oilseeds as well as grass and legume forages. This data comes from unbiased, third-party, applied research trials: Regional Variety Testing trials, Prairie Canola Variety Trials, and Western Forage Testing trials. Producers use this publication as a tool for variety selection. The Manitoba seed guide reports cereal forage yield and an estimation of quality information from selected sites. Thus, Alberta producers make varietal decisions for silage and green feed based on grain yield and not forage production. They also use un-replicated, single year, inaccurately measured personal results and word of mouth to select annual forage crops. Previous research by the Western Forage Beef Group, Alberta Agriculture and Applied Research Associations has attempted to answer some of these questions. However, many of the previous trials focused on yield and included no or minimal quality data, and often included only a limited number of varieties. They did not provide local data for producers to make decisions by crop zone and many of the new varieties have not been tested in these types of trials. Data from previous trials may also not be readily available to producers to aid in making cropping decisions. There is currently a lack of local data on whole-plant annual cereals forage quality and quantity for producers to use in making cropping decisions and producers have been asking for this information. The idea for these variety trials is certainly not unique. However, the purpose of the present project is to provide a more current and complete data set for use by local producers. This will serve to fill some of the knowledge gap identified earlier, as both quality and yield data are collected on a large number of new varieties. The results will be readily available to local producers and the data will be collected in several locations across Alberta. The results will also be reported in the Alberta Seed Guide (www.seed.ab.ca) for comparison across the province. The project also addresses the key issue of decline in profit margins being faced by the producers, because input costs have increased dramatically while the prices for beef have tended to decline or remain unchanged. To encourage producers to grow a new variety, it is essential to show case its advantage within the area. This requires testing in the target agro-ecological areas so that producers can visit them, readily access results, and feel comfortable that the results would apply to their farms.

Lack of information for the Peace region makes the SARDA part of the project unique from the earlier studies done in other parts of Alberta. Objectives: 1. To demonstrate the effects of cereal crop varieties on forage yield and quality, input use efficiency, and contribution margin for forage production under the Alberta and Peace Region growing conditions. 2. To identify superior cereal crop varieties for forage production. 3. To identify nutritional differences between varieties. 4. To identify regional differences for forage production from annual cereal crop varieties in Alberta. 5. Communicate information from the project to the producers of the areas covered by the associations in Alberta and beyond so they can take advantage of the new varieties. Methodology Provincial trials: Eleven sites across the province are located in High Prairie, Fort Kent, Westlock, Evansburg, Forestburg and Oyen. Trial sites are selected based on uniformity across the trial, previous cropping history and rotation. The trials are never grown directly after another trial to eliminate previous trial effects. Trials are complete randomized block designs with three or four replicates. Plot size varies depending on seeding equipment, and is appropriately trimmed prior to harvest to eliminate edge effect. The three cereal trials contain barley, oat and triticale varieties. The following varieties have been selected for the trials. Barley: CDC Cowboy – new 2-row forage barley, tall, responds well to low moisture and low fertility. Has performed very well in the Regional Variety trials. Seebe – 2-row feed/silage barley, standard for silage. Ponoka – 2-row feed barley, suited for silage or high grain yield. Xena – 2-row barley, semi-smooth awns, Regional Variety Trial check variety for 2-row feed barley. Stockford – 2-row hooded barley, high forage yield, silage barley, suitable for baling. Sundre – new 6-row feed barley, high yielding grain and forage barley, reportedly highest yielding barley ever developed by Lacombe. 2008 first year of distribution. Vivar – 6-row, semi-dwarf feed barley. Regional Variety Trial 6-row check. AC Ranger – 6-row feed barley, smooth awns. Trochu – 6-row barley, high silage yield, good for Stettler east, smooth awn. Busby – new 2-row, rough awn, grown from Seebe but said to have higher forage yield. AC Lacombe – 6 row, smooth awn feed barley. Oats: CDC Baler – forage oat, very leafy. Everleaf – new forage oat, extremely wide leaves. Murphy – forage oat, high silage yield, stands tall. AC Mustang – feed oat. Waldern – feed oat, high silage yield.

CDC Bell – forage oat, superior greenfeed production, large leaves. AC Jordan – new feed/milling/forage oat, high silage yield, high grain yield, large seed size. AC Morgan – high yielding, later maturing milling oat, commonly used for silage or greenfeed. Foothills – older forage type variety, finer stemmed, tall growing, considered to have higher palatability. Derby – older oat variety, still popular in some areas for cattle feed. Triticale: Companion – feed triticale. Pronghorn – check variety. AC Ultima – historically higher yielding triticale in Northeastern Alberta. Tyndal – new reduced awn forage and silage variety being developed by Lacombe. Bunker - new reduced awn forage and silage variety being developed by Lacombe. Seed are sourced from one lot, bulk treated and dispersed to participating groups. Seeding rates for each cereal plot are determined using the Regional Variety Trial recommendations to account for germination and seed vigour and calculated using the formula: 1000 kernel weight * desired plants/m2/1000 * plot area m2 (100/germination) * 1.05. Desired seeding rates are: barley 210 plants/m2, oat 250 plants/m2, and triticale 310 plants/m2. Plot area is calculated as: number of rows x row spacing x seeding length. Soil tests are conducted prior to seeding and appropriate rates of N, P, K, S and other nutrients are applied. Prior to seeding, plots are sprayed with glyphosate for pre-seed burn-off. In crop spraying occurs as early as possible based on crop development and weed pressure. Rouging is done where necessary. Barley is harvested at the soft dough stage, oats at the milk stage and triticale at the late milk stage. Prior to harvest, plot heights and crop stage are recorded. The whole plot is harvested and a total plot weight is recorded. A sample is sent to an accredited laboratory for nutritional analyses. The % moisture at harvest is also used to compare maturity. Weather data will also be collected for each site using the nearest weather station. In year one, the forage quality will be assessed using wet chemistry analysis as well as NIR analysis (in co-operation with Mary-Lou Swift; Field Crop Development Center, Lacombe) to strengthen the current NIR data base. In years two and three, all samples will be sent for NIR analysis. Statistical analysis of the data will be carried out using ARM 7 or SASS with an LSD of P = 0.05. 2009 SARDA Trial: The plots were located near High Praire (NW25-74-17W5) on canola stubble. The treatments were replicated 4 times, using a RCBD to lay out the small plots (8 m long 6 rows at 9 inch spacing). WeatherMax (600 mL/ac) was sprayed on all plots on May 8. A Fabro drill equipped with Atom jet openers was used to seed on May 23. Recommended agronomic practices were followed.

The seeding rate was 250 plants/m2 and actual amounts were calculated using the germination % and TKW of each variety. At seeding, fertilizer rates were 85 lb/ac of 11-52-0 (seed placed) and 257 lb/ac of 26-0-26 (side banded). The plots were assessed to estimate any major part of rows without plants to determine the actual harvest area per plot. The above ground parts of plants were harvested using a Mott mower: barley on July 31, oats and triticale on Aug. 11. The harvested material was weighed in the field and subsamples were collected to dry and determine moisture content, dry matter (DM) yield and feed quality. The yield data are presented as DM and at 65% moisture content. Feed quality was determined using composite samples from the 4 treatment plots, by wet chemistry technique. The crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) yields were calculated using the data on forage DM yield (Table 1) and quality (Table 2, 3 and 4). Table 1 shows the DM and 65% moisture yields for all the varieties. The 65% moisture yields are shown to indicate the tonnage of fresh forage. The discussion of results is based on the DM yields, because the forage quality data are also based on the DM yields. The trial site was toured during the annual tour of SARDA on July 23, 2009. The results will also be communicated to the producers of areas covered by the associations in the Peace Region and beyond, using meetings, presentations, reports, newsletters, articles, media, webpage and other means. Results and Discussion Provincial Trial: The results are presented in the Alberta Seed Guide (page 60 to 63) and are also on the www. seed.ab.ca. 2009 SARDA Trial: Adequate moisture was present at seeding time. Stand establishment was good for all plots. Crop development was slow due to cooler weather (see High Prairie weather data). Barley was harvested after 69 days and both oat and triticale were harvested after 80 days. Amongst the 10 barley varieties, the DM yield ranged from 2.68 to 3.24 t/ac (range of 0.55 t/ac) and the differences were significant at 0.08 probability. Ponoka, Busby and AC Lacombe were at the top end of DM yield range while Trochu, AC rangeland and Sundre were at the bottom end of DM yield range. As there were only small differences in the CP and TDN content of different barley varieties, the CP and TDN yield of different barley varieties followed a ranking quite similar to the DM yield of different varieties. The DM yield of 9 oat varieties ranged from 3.18 to 3.90 t/ac (range of 0.72 t/ac) and the differences were significant at 0.05 probabilities. Mustang and Murphy were at the top end of DM yield range while Jordan, Everleaf and Morgan were at the bottom end of DM yield range. Again like barley, the CP and TDN yield of different oat varieties followed a ranking that was quite similar to the DM yield of different varieties.

The 5 triticale varieties showed a very narrow range in their DM yield (from 3.51 to 3.77 t/ac; maximum difference of 254 kg/ac) and the differences were not significant. Tyndal appeared to be a slightly better variety due to its highest DM and TDN yields and second highest CP yield. Pronghorn had lowest DM, CP and TDN yields. The moisture content at harvest was within a rather narrow range, maximum difference of 3.1% for barley, 5.8% for oat and 3.6% for triticale varieties (Table 1). The plant height of different varieties ranged from 77.2 to 103.2 cm for barley, from 97.0 to 133.6 cm for oat and from 107.6 to 138.8 cm for triticale. There were some differences in the quality parameter of different varieties (Table 2, 3, 4). But these differences may not be large enough to influence the choice of a variety based on the DM yield, as indicated by quite similar ranking of the CP and TDN production to the DM yield. However, much higher concentration of iron in some of the barley (Busby, Sundre and Trochu) and triticale (Bunker and Companion) compared to the other varieties of these crops appear to be worth rechecking in the 2010 and 2011 data. The results from 2009 year show potential for improving DM, CP and TND yields as well as certain quality parameters by using better varieties. Considering the range in DM and TDN yields, there appears to be an opportunity to replace barley with oat or triticale. However, the maximum CP yield was produced with some of the barley varieties. The results need further support by comparing these varieties for another 2 years. Acknowledgements Funds for the trial were received from the Alberta Beef Producers, AOF program of AARD and local municipalities. Reed Rigney, GRO, coordinated the provincial project. Gayah Sieusahai, AARD, organised the seed treatment and distribution.

Table 1. Dry matter (DM) and at 65% moisture (65%M) yield, and moisture content for the barley, oats and triticale varieties. Variety DM, 65%M CP TDN, Moisture Plant t/ac t/ha kg/ac kg/ac % height, cm Barley Busby 3.22 22.73 303.9 2005 71.6 88.6 CDC Cowboy 2.91 20.53 245.4 1684 73.9 103.2 AC Lacombe 3.01 21.26 284.1 1851 70.8 86.8 Ponoka 3.24 22.85 258.9 1909 73.6 80.2 AC Ranger 2.75 19.39 225.0 1654 72.6 81.0 Seebe 2.98 21.08 317.3 1830 73.2 87.0 Sundre 2.68 18.96 203.0 1608 72.3 92.0 Trochu 2.77 19.57 247.8 1677 72.8 82.8 Vivar 2.97 20.99 288.1 1736 72.4 77.2 Xena 2.88 20.30 274.8 1682 72.3 78.4 LSD0.05 CV, % Prob Oat Baler Derby Everleaf Foothills Jordan Morgan Murphy Mustang Waldern LSD0.05 CV, % Prob Triticale Bunker Companion Pronghorn Tyndal Utlima LSD0.05 CV, % Prob

0.381 9.0 0.08

2.695 9.0 0.08

3.54 3.40 3.19 3.41 3.20 3.18 3.89 3.90 3.65

24.99 24.00 22.50 24.06 22.60 22.49 27.48 27.52 25.74

0.541 10.6 0.054

3.804 10.5 0.053

3.55 3.65 3.51 3.77 3.59

24.20 25.31 24.79 25.39 25.37

0.441 7.9 0.75

2.260 5.9 0.74

254.2 268.0 215.2 232.4 208.2 238.7 267.8 285.1 234.7

273.1 257.8 243.7 263.2 251.6

2115 2054 1785 1931 1906 1878 2230 2250 2027

2177 2223 2142 2275 2239

1.75 1.7 0.046

5.05 4.1 0.0001

74.8 75.5 79.1 75.1 76.3 73.4 74.9 73.8 74.2

119.4 111.8 108.7 133.6 97.0 105.7 131.4 119.5 128.0

2.68 2.4 0.010

10.3 6.0 0.0001

62.9 60.5 64.1 63.7 63.6

123.4 138.8 111.2 107.6 109.8

1.62 1.7 0.003

5.78 3.2 0.0001

Table 2. Feed quality based on dry matter of Busby (B1), CDC Cowboy (B2), AC Lacombe (B3), Ponoka (B4), AC Ranger (B5), Seebe (B6), Sundre (B7), Trochu (B8), Vivar (B9) and Xena (B10) barley varieties. Parameter B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 Protein Crude protein, % 9.44 8.44 9.44 8.00 8.19 10.63 7.56 8.94 9.69 9.56 Soluble CP, % of CP 49.8 49.4 45.4 52.2 50.8 49.4 52.2 51.0 52.4 48.4 ADF –CP,% 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.30 0.40 0.60 0.30 0.50 0.50 0.50 UIP (Bypass protein) 31.7 33.9 34.7 28.3 30.2 33.4 28.9 32.1 30.1 32.0 Fibres ADF, % 34.2 39.8 35.2 38.4 36.8 35.4 37.2 36.4 39.2 39.0 NDF, % 55.0 63.8 54.8 59.2 60.6 59.8 60.2 59.4 61.2 63.8 TDN, % 62.3 57.9 61.5 59.0 60.2 61.3 59.9 60.5 58.4 58.5 Energy NE Lactation, MCal/kg 1.41 1.30 1.39 1.33 1.36 1.39 1.35 1.37 1.32 1.32 NE maintain, MCal/kg 1.52 1.39 1.50 1.42 1.46 1.49 1.45 1.47 1.41 1.41 NE Gain, MCal/kg 0.80 0.67 0.78 0.70 0.74 0.77 0.73 0.57 0.69 0.69 Minerals Calcium, % 0.37 0.33 0.47 0.45 0.35 0.37 0.35 0.37 0.40 0.30 Copper, mg/kg 8.20 8.00 7.50 6.80 7.90 10.2 9.20 8.90 10.1 7.80 Phosphorus, % 0.19 0.15 0.19 0.14 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.15 0.16 0.17 Potassium, % 1.51 1.69 1.67 1.74 1.84 1.71 1.70 1.82 1.84 1.63 Sulphur, % 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.15 0.14 0.16 0.14 0.14 0.15 0.15 Magnesium, % 0.12 0.13 0.17 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.12 Zinc, mg/kg 26.7 24.8 36.9 19.7 25.2 28.4 28.7 27.7 29.4 25.0 Iron, mg/kg 472 112 164 197 111 202 758 382 156 85 Manganese, mg/kg 16.7 14.6 19.2 12.6 13.0 16.5 17.8 13.7 13.1 13.5 Sodium, % 0.06 0.07 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.06 0.06 Other Relative feed value 105 87 104 93 92 95 93 95 89 85 NFC, % 24.1 16.3 24.3 21.3 19.7 18.1 20.7 20.2 17.6 15.1

Table 3. Feed quality based on dry matter of Baler (O1), Derby (O2), Everleaf (O3), Foothills (O4), Jordan (O5), Morgan (O6), Murphy (O7), Mustang (O8) and Waldern (O9) oat varieties. Parameter O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 O7 O8 O9 Protein Crude protein, % 7.19 7.88 6.75 6.81 6.50 7.50 6.88 7.31 6.44 Soluble CP, % of CP 51.2 45.0 52.2 52.6 49.0 50.8 49.6 48.2 46.0 ADF –CP,% 0.20 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.40 0.30 UIP (Bypass protein) 27.1 31.2 29.9 29.7 30.5 29.6 29.3 32.8 31.6 Fibres ADF, % 37.4 36.6 42.2 41.4 37.8 38.4 40.6 40.0 42.8 NDF, % 64.0 56.0 60.4 61.4 65.8 61.2 60.4 64.2 63.2 TDN, % 59.8 60.4 56.0 56.6 59.5 59.0 57.3 57.7 55.6 Energy NE Lactation, MCal/kg 1.35 1.36 1.26 1.27 1.34 1.33 1.29 1.30 1.25 NE maintain, MCal/kg 1.45 1.46 1.34 1.35 1.44 1.42 1.37 1.39 1.32 NE Gain, MCal/kg 0.73 0.74 0.62 0.63 0.72 0.70 0.65 0.66 0.60 Minerals Calcium, % 0.21 0.26 0.24 0.21 0.21 0.25 0.26 0.27 0.28 Copper, mg/kg 5.80 5.50 5.30 12.5 8.00 7.30 8.40 7.80 5.00 Phosphorus, % 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.11 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.14 0.12 Potassium, % 1.38 1.66 1.81 1.57 1.65 1.51 1.73 1.60 1.47 Sulphur, % 0.10 0.15 0.13 0.11 0.16 0.14 0.16 0.16 0.13 Magnesium, % 0.10 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.11 0.11 0.12 0.12 0.11 Zinc, mg/kg 22.2 21.5 18.1 16.7 19.7 24.7 21.1 21.7 18.5 Iron, mg/kg 172 93 156 135 140 116 344 146 207 Manganese, mg/kg 32.1 29.3 32.1 23.5 31.6 37.4 31.8 36.4 28.8 Sodium, % 0.19 0.31 0.45 0.35 0.47 0.30 0.24 0.35 0.26 Other Relative feed value 87 100 86.2 86 84 90 88 84 82 NFC, % 17.3 24.6 21.4 20.3 16.2 19.8 21.2 17.0 18.9

Table 4. Feed quality based on dry matter of Bunker (T1), Companion (T2), Pronghorn (T3), Tyndal (O4), and Ultima (T5) triticale varieties. Parameter T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 Protein Crude protein, % 7.69 7.06 6.94 6.99 7.00 Soluble CP, % of CP 60.6 59.8 59.6 57.8 61.2 ADF –CP,% 0.30 0.20 0.30 0.30 0.30 UIP (Bypass protein) 24.3 24.0 26.8 26.9 25.9 Fibres ADF, % 35.4 34.0 35.8 36.6 34.2 NDF, % 51.8 51.8 52.8 54.8 52.0 TDN, % 61.3 62.4 61.0 60.4 62.3 Energy NE Lactation, MCal/kg 1.39 1.41 1.38 1.36 1.41 NE maintain, MCal/kg 1.49 1.52 1.48 1.46 1.52 NE Gain, MCal/kg 0.77 0.80 0.76 0.74 0.80 Minerals Calcium, % 0.27 0.26 0.18 0.25 0.19 Copper, mg/kg 10.0 7.40 7.00 7.50 6.00 Phosphorus, % 0.14 0.13 0.11 0.14 0.13 Potassium, % 1.20 1.25 1.21 1.39 1.17 Sulphur, % 0.11 0.11 0.09 0.11 0.10 Magnesium, % 0.11 0.10 0.07 0.10 0.09 Zinc, mg/kg 31.1 26.9 19.9 20.7 25.8 Iron, mg/kg 863 302 102 98 85.6 Manganese, mg/kg 30.8 25.6 21.0 28.2 22.0 Sodium, % 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 Other Relative feed value 110 112 108 102 111 NFC, % 29.0 29.6 28.8 27.0 29.5