Abstract:

To study the effects of mowing on the yield and quality of barley forage, the forage yield and quality of different barley varieties at different cutting stages were analyzed with varieties and cutting stages as experimental factors, and each set up three levels, a total of nine treatments. The results show that the average fresh forage yields of ‘Baodamai 20,’ ‘Baodamai 25,’ and ‘Baodamai 20-J4’ are 42.09 t/hm², 47.81 t/hm², and 44.82 t/hm², respectively. The yield of fresh grass is the highest when cutting once at tillering stage + cutting again at milky stage, which is 2.07-6.56 t/hm² higher than cutting once at the milk stage, and 3.55-7.14 t/hm² higher than cutting once at the jointing stage + once at the milk stage. Cutting at peak tillering stage and jointing stage, the barley has high content of crude protein and crude fat, and a low content of neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and crude fiber, good palatability, easy digestion, high nutritional value, thus it can be directly used as green forage. Cutting at milky stage, the content of crude protein, crude fat and crude ash in barley decreased significantly, and the content of neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and crude fiber increased significantly, thus it is suitable for silage production. In production, when using barley as silage (feed), it is recommended to select ‘Baodamai 25’, the first cutting should be carried out at the peak tillering stage to make green fodder, and the second cutting should be carried out at the milk stage to make silage.

Key words: barley, silage, mowing period, mowing frequency, forage, yield, quality