Late seeded cereals comparison for forage production in Alberta and Peace region The objectives are to compare the late seeded traditional cereal crops with millets for forage yield and quality in Alberta and communicate the information to the producers. The southeast Peace Region trials were located near High Prairie (2009) and Valleyview (2010).

In 2010, barley (vivar), oats (murphy), triticale (pronghorn), and millets (German Golden, Red Proso, Crown, Siberian) were seeded on June 2. Millets emerged late and were slower to grow compared to the other cereals. Frost in early July turned the leaves of millets blackish green, while no damage was observed on other cereals. At harvest, millets had higher moisture content than the other cereals. The dry matter (DM) yield of all millets was lower than the other cereals. The crude protein (CP) production was maximum from barley and minimum from oats and German Golden millet.

The 2009 and 2010 results show little potential for millets when compared to the other late seeded cereals. But damage to the millets from unexpected frost during both growing seasons may have influenced the results. (Full report on PP ??)

Late seeded cereals 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. Using higher quality forage can supplement poor quality straw or grass in a mixture or in a rotational feeding/grazing system.

Spring barley is the most common annual crop grown for hay, green feed or silage. Triticale and oats are grown by some producers. A number of companies are promoting use of C4 crops like sorghum and millets for forage. Sorghum production in the research trials has been disappointing. But millets have shown some promise and producers have shown interest in

growing millets. A multi locations project to assess the potential of millets as an alternate forage source in Alberta was started in 2009. The 2009 trial in the southeast Peace Region was done near High prairie (SARDA Annual report 2009).

Objectives The project addresses the key issue of decline in profit margins being faced by the producers as follows. 1. To compare late seeded traditional cereal crops with millets for forage yield and quality. 2. To identify the forage production potential for millets in the southeast Peace Region. 3. Communicate information from the project to the producers of the Peace Region. 4. The results will also be reported in the Alberta Seed Guide (seed.ab.ca) and posted on web page (sarda.areca.ab.ca) for wider access of results and comparisons with other sites across the province.

Methodology Provincial trials: See the Cereal Crop Varieties comparison for forage production in Alberta and Peace Region report for objectives of the provincial trials and brief description on the barley, oats and triticale varieties. A brief description of millet varieties follows.

SARDA Trial 2010: The plots were located near Valleyview (SW27-69-22W5) 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).

As millets need to be sown in to warm soil, other cereals were also seeded late to compare them with millets. Glyphostae (360 g/ac) on May 7, May 16 and June 2 as pre-seed, due to persistence Canada thistle issue. A Fabro drill equipped with Atom jet openers was used to seed on June 2. The seeding rate was 250 plants/m2 for barley (135 lb/ac), oats (111 lb/ac) and triticale (145 lb/ac). Seed rates were 25 lb/ac for Millet King Red Proso and Crown millets, and 20 lb/ac for the German Golden and Siberian millets. At seeding, 85 lb/ac of 11-52-0 (seed placed) and 257 lb/ac of 26-0-26 (side banded) fertilizers were applied. In crop spray

was Curtail M (0.81 L/ac) plus Lontrel (Aclipse A) @ 40mL/ac on June 30.

The plots were assessed to estimate any major part of rows without plants to determine the actual harvest area per plot. We harvested the above ground part of plants using a Mott mower on Aug. 13 (barley, oats and triticale) or on Aug. 24 (millets). 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 were then converted to dry matter (DM) and at 65% moisture content. Feed quality was determined using 2 samples from each treatment (composites of replications 1 & 2 and 3 & 4) , by wet chemistry technique. The amounts of crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) were calculated using the forage DM yield (Table 1) and quality (Table 2) data.

The trial site was toured during the annual tour of SARDA on July 27, 2010. Trials map and related information were made available at the site entrance for self-guided tours by the farmers and others during the July and Aug. 2010. The results will be communicated to the producers in the Peace Region and beyond, using meetings, presentations, reports, newsletters, articles, media, webpage and other means.

Results and Discussion Provincial Trials: The results are presented in the Alberta Seed Guide and on the www.seed.ab.ca.

SARDA Trial 2010: The soil moisture at seeding time was below normal (Valleyview weather data). Millets emerged late compared to the other cereals. Frost in early July turned the leaves of millets blackish green, while no damage was observed on other cereals.

Observations on Aug. 5 showed that the foliage of millets was still blackish green, especially in replications 1 and 2. Also the millets had shorter plants (visual observations) and were behind in development than the other cereals (Table 1).

As the barley, oats and triticale reached their optimum harvest stage earlier they were harvested on Aug. 13, while the millets were harvested on Aug. 24. By Aug. 24, the Millet King red Proso and Crown millets were at grain filling stage while the German Golden and Siberian millets were at vegetative to grain filling stages. Observations on this day indicated persistence of frost damage in form of blackish green leaves on the German Golden and Millet King red Proso millets, but not on the other millets.

The millets had higher moisture content than the other cereals at harvest, because of their delayed development (Fig. 1, Table 1). The DM yield of all millets was lower than the other cereals (Table 1). Barley and triticale had significant greater DM than all the 4 millets, and oats had significant greater DM than the German Golden and Siberian millets. Amongst the millets, the German Golden had significantly higher DM than the other millets.

The CP production was maximum from the vivar barley and minimum from the murphy oats and German Golden millet (Fig. 2, Table 1). The CP production for the Millet King Red Proso Crown and Siberian millets was greater than the oats and triticale. Also, the Millet King Red Proso and Crown millets produced more TDN than the oats (Fig. 3, Table 1). A different trend of CP and TDN production than the DM was due to relatively higher CP content of the millets than the other cereals, and relatively lower CP content of oats and triticale and lower TDN content of oats (Table 2). 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

Fig. 1. Dry matter (DM) yield, t/ac

250

Fig. 2. crude protein (CP) yield, kg/ac

200 150 100 50 0

1400 1200

Fig. 3. Total digestible nutrients (TDN), kg/ac

1000 800 600 400 200 0

A noticeable difference in feed quality was higher CP content of the millets, which may have been due to frost induced retarded growth of the aboveground parts of plants while roots were still active in uptake and movement of nitrogen to the shoots (Table 2). Also noted were relatively lower levels of soluble CP% (barley and oats), ADF-CP% (barley, oats and triticale), TDN and energy levels (oats), zinc and iron concentrations (oats), and concentrations of calcium, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, iron (triticale). The oats also had lower relative feed value and NFC% than the other cereals.

Like 2009, the 2010 results show limited potential for millets when compared to the other tested cereals. However, millets seeded in June may have potential to provide green feed for grazing or good quality hay in fall. Damage to the millets from unexpected frost during the

growing season in both years may have influenced the results. Further verification of the results will be done in 2011. Table 1. Growth stages on Aug. 5, forage dry matter (DM) and at 65% moisture (65%M) yield, CP and TDN production, and moisture content for late seeded cereals. Cereal Growth stage DM 65%M CP TDN, Moisture Aug. 5 t/ac t/ac kg/ac kg/ac % Vivar barley Murphy oats Pronghorn triticale PS German Goldem millet Millet King Red Proso millet Crown millet Siberain millet

Early soft dough Bloom to Early milk Bloom Vegetative Heading Vegetative to Heading Vegetative

1.91 1.60 1.79 0.91 1.44 1.45 1.26

5.45 4.57 5.13 2.61 4.12 4.16 3.61

LSD0.05 0.209 CV, % 9.5 1 Significance ** 1 ** refer to the treatment effects being significant at 99% level.

0.597 9.5 **

212 1345 114 954 144 1218 113 622 175 997 191 1021 154 837

61.5 61.1 59.1 66.8 68.1 66.5 65.5 1.48 1.6 **

Table 2. Feed quality based on dry matter of the late seeded Vivar barley (T1), Murphy oats (T2), Pronghorn triticale (T3), PS German Goldem millet (T4), Millet King Red Proso millet (T5), Crown millet (T6) and Siberain millet (T7). Parameter T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 LSD CV% Signi.1 95% Protein Crude protein, % 11.1 7.2 8.0 12.4 12.1 13.1 12.2 1.35 5.1 ** Soluble CP, % of CP 55.8 54.2 67.7 62.3 66.0 64.5 61.3 4.35 2.9 ** ADF –CP,% 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.4 0 0 NS UIP (Bypass protein) 23.8 26.0 19.4 23.0 22.6 23.2 23.4 1.52 2.7 ** Fibres ADF, % 23.6 37.5 27.0 26.6 25.4 24.0 29.0 1.25 1.8 ** NDF, % 41.6 60.7 48.8 48.5 50.2 47.8 50.3 6.05 5.0 ** TDN, % 70.5 59.7 67.9 68.1 69.1 70.2 66.3 0.98 0.6 ** Energy NE Lactation, MCal/kg 1.61 1.34 1.55 1.56 1.58 1.60 1.51 0.030 0.8 ** NE maintain, MCal/kg 1.76 1.44 1.68 1.68 1.72 1.75 1.64 0.027 0.7 ** NE Gain, MCal/kg 1.04 0.72 0.96 0.96 1.00 1.02 0.92 0.029 1.2 ** Minerals Calcium, % 0.34 0.34 0.23 375 285 275 345 86.8 11.4 † Copper, mg/kg 9.42 7.12 8.24 9.93 8.70 8.00 10.14 1.438 6.7 * Phosphorus, % 105 60 75 65 70 75 85 42.9 22.9 NS Potassium, % 1510 1510 1240 2090 1475 1305 1975 256.4 6.6 ** Sulphur, % 180 145 140 165 150 165 175 61.1 15.6 NS Magnesium, % 215 185 135 235 240 250 310 39.2 7.2 ** Zinc, mg/kg 41.1 20.3 28.8 26.5 24.1 22.6 38.1 8.14 11.6 ** Iron, mg/kg 563 276 165 597 550 554 758 269.8 22.3 * Manganese, mg/kg 54.4 59.1 55.7 53.0 47.6 47.5 73.3 5.17 3.8 ** Sodium, mg/kg 170 380 50 20 15 15 15 31.6 13.6 ** Other Relative feed value 158 92 129 131 128 137 124 15.92 5.1 ** NFC, % 35.9 20.6 31.7 27.6 26.1 27.6 25.9 5.68 8.3 ** 1 **, * and † refer to the treatment effects being significant at 99%, 95% and 90% levels. NS refers to not significant.