Effect Of Different Cultivation Measures On Forage Yield And Nutritive Value Of Oat

Oat(AvenaL.),belongs to the grass family(Poaceae),is one of the most important cereal crops in the word.Oat is widely cultivated due to its well adaptions for production under marginal environments,including cold climates and soils with low fertility and superior performances in tolerance to drought and saline-alkaline as well as low agricultural risk.Oat is commonlyused as both for human consumption and animal feed because of its high nutritional value and good palatability.In addition,oat grain has the functions of antioxidant,anti-inflammatory,hypolipidemic,prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.As one kind of forage,oat is characterized bysoft and juicy stem and leaf with good palatability and therefore could be used as both for fresh and dry forage.The oat grain could be further made into concentrated feed.In Sichuan province,most cultivated lands are vacant and therefore seriously exposed in winter,this could decline the fertility of the soil and waste the land resources.Thus,the present study aims to provide theoretical basisfor the rational exploitation of winter agriculture,reducing bare land in winter through growing oat as for forage.The experiments were carried out in 2014 and 2015 in the experimental farm of Sichuan Agricultural University in Qiquan Town,Chongzhou City,Sichuan Province.In the first year,we made a preliminary screening from the 392 oat cultivars which came from different places around the world and carried out the cutting test.According to the agronomic traits and yield of the first year,8 oat cultivarswere selected for further field trials performed in 2015.The experiment was a factorial design(three factors including sowing date,sowing density and fertilization rate)on the basis of a completely randomized design in three replicates.The quality traits including fresh grass yield,hay yield,crude protein,neutral detergent fiber,acid detergent fiber,crude fat,soluble sugar,crude ash were measured.The main results were summarized as follows:(1)Analysis the effect of cutting times to the fresh and dry forage yield,the results indicated that harvesting by cutting 2 times could get higher fresh forage yield,whereas harvesting by cutting 1 time performed better in dry forage yield.(2)The sowing rate significantly affected the forage yield.Highest forage yield was observed in early sowing date B 1(13th October).Sowing rate had significant effects on forage yield.The foage productions atboth C2(52.5 kg/hm~2)and C3(78.75 kg/hm~2)were significantly higher than that at C1(26.25 kg/hm~2).T Highest forage yield was observed at C3(78.75 kg/hm~2),which was 200kg/hm~2 hihger than that at C2(52.5 kg/hm~2),but taking into account the production cost(C3 is 50%higher than C2 in sowing rate),the optimum sowing rate is C2(52.5 kg/hm)in this study.The fertilizer rate also had significant effects on forage yield.The forage yields at D2(450 kg/hm~2)and D3(675 kg/hm~2)were significantly higer than that at D 1(225 kg/hm~2),and maximum forage yield occurred at D2(450 kg/hm~2).Taking all the sowing data,sowing rate and fertilizer rate into consideration,the optimum cultivated conditions in Chengdu Plain area are to sow relative earlyin early October with planting density of 52.5 kg/hm~2 and fertilizer rate of 450 kg/hm~2.(3)The results of two years experiments indicated that Freddy is the most suitable oat variety for planting in Chengdu,which growth period for 189 days,plain area with the average fresh and dry forage yield of 65039.37±15073.44 kg/hm~2 and 11631.13±3583.31 kg/hm~2,respectivly.(4)The sowing rate had no significant effects on forage quality.(5)The forage qualities of all eight oat varieties tested in the present study were not uniform.Nora and Baton AC showed higher concentrations in crude protein,crude fat,crude ash and soluble sugar,but inferior in concentration of neutral detergent fiber,acid washing,and crude ash content.Considering both forage yield and quality,Canada variety Nora is the best variety should be planted in Chengdu plain area,which growth period for 189 days.The fresh and dry forage yields were 9707.48±17139.16 kg/hm~2 and 10687.6±3491.43 kg/hm~2,respectively.