Study On Agronomic Traits,yield And Forage Quality Of Pearl Millet In The West Of Northeast China

As China’s residents’ income increases,the proportion of animal food consumption also increases,and the proportion of beef and lamb and dairy products consumption increases year by year,the residents’ demand for livestock products directly translates into the demand for forage.The Northeast region is an important place for forage production and animal husbandry development in China.In recent decades,due to the unreasonable use of grasslands,the available area of natural grasslands has significantly decreased,productivity has rapidly decreased,and forage production is insufficient to meet the supply demand for high-quality animal husbandry products.To promote the rapid development of animal husbandry,it is necessary to make reasonable use of the advantages of grassland resources while vigorously developing forage resources,and excavating forage with high yield,drought resistance,soil barren tolerance,and strong stress resistance.Pearl millet(Pennisetum glaucum L.)is an annual C4 plant of the genus Wolfsbane in the family Gramineae.It has a strong ability to adapt to climate change,is resistant to adversity,has good stress tolerance(drought,barrenness,salinity tolerance);high yield,excellent quality,high palatability and digestibility,and is a good source of forage.Due to various reasons mentioned above,pearl millet is increasingly valued as a drought resistant and water-saving forage,and its application in feed is also increasing.Research has shown that pearl millet forage is an ideal green feed for animals such as cows,sheep,and rabbits.Pearl millet straw can be used to make hay and silage for cattle and sheep,especially for cows.Grain is an ideal concentrate for livestock and poultry,and it can be used for fish farming in ponds and is also edible.Due to the significant variability in adaptability,yield,and quality traits of pearl millet under different agricultural ecological conditions,there has been research on the freshness of pearl millet in the western region of Northeast China,but plant traits and the optimal planting mode are still unclear.Therefore,this experiment uses pearl millet as the research material to explore its adaptability,agronomic traits,and performance of forage yield and quality under different sowing rates,fertilization rates,and the period of mowering in the western region of Northeast China.Provide theoretical basis for the selection of high-yield cultivation models for pearl millet in the west of northeast China.The results of this experiment are as follows:1.There are significant differences in the agronomic traits,forage yield,and forage quality of pearl millet under different phenological periods.As the pearl millet grows,its plant height and stem diameter rapidly increased in the early stage and tended to stabilize in the later stage,reached their maximum in the mature stage.The highest plant height could reach about 4.08 m,and the thickest stem could reach about 22.8 mm.However,the above indicators could show significant differences between different years due to the influence of climate between seasons.Pearl millet has a higher water content before the filling stage of nutritional and reproductive growth.As the maturity of pearl millet increases,the fresh to dry ratio first increased and then decreased,reached a maximum of 9.2(Spike period).The stem to leaf ratio showed an overall increasing trend as the growth and development of pearl millet advance,reached a maximum of 3.3 at the completion stage.During the entire growth period,the dry matter weight of a single plant gradually increased with the advancement of the growth period,reached its maximum at the wax or full ripening stage,with a dry weight of1100 to 1500 g per plant;The fresh weight of a single plant first increased and then decreased,reached a maximum of 3194 g/plant during the milk ripening period in 2021 and 5092 g/plant during the wax ripening period in 2022.The crude protein content of the stems,leaves,and whole plant of pearl millet showed a decreased trend with the advancement of the growth period,gradually decreasing from the tillering stage to the mature stage.During the tillering stage,the highest crude protein content in the entire plant can reach 28.34%,and the content in the leaves is higher than that in the stems.The content of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber increased with the maturity of pearl millet and was most distributed in the stalk,with the highest content of neutral detergent fiber up to 69.31% and acid detergent fiber up to45.04%.Pearl millet has a reproductive period of about 157 days in the west of northeast China,with relatively slow growth in the early stages and rapid growth and development in the later stages,and forage quality declines rapidly after the filling period.It is susceptible to frost damage throughout the reproductive period,and special attention should be paid to the frost period during planting in the northeast;also,since pearl millet is a short-day plant,it is more appropriate to sow it in the western northeast in the middle and early part of May2.During the entire growth and development process of pearl millet in the western region of Northeast China,if cut during the Spike period,it can be cut three times,and the first and second times have higher hay yield and quality.The yield of pearl millet forage showed an upward trend with the increase of sowing amount;The crude protein content and relative feed value of forage decrease with the increased of sowing amount,while the content of neutral washing fiber and acidic washing fiber increased.The overall quality of forage showed a decline.To determine the optimal sowing rate,analyzed it together with forage yield and forage quality.Although the quality was the best when the sowing amount was 7.5 kg/ha,the forage yield was the lowest(fresh grass yield was 66.9 t/ha,dry grass yield was 8.1 t/ha),which is not suitable as the optimal sowing amount.When the sowing amount was 37.5 kg/ha,although the forage quality was the lowest,there was no significant difference in forage quality compared to other densities(except 7.5 kg/ha),and both fresh and dry grass yields were the highest at this density(fresh grass yield was 119.7 t/ha,dry grass yield was 22.3 t/ha).Therefore,it is determined that planting pearl millet in the western part of Northeast China should adopt reasonable high-density planting in order to obtain higher economic benefits.3.Mowing at different periods had significant effects on the growth,forage yield and quality of pearl millet.The fresh forage yield tended to decrease with the delay of mowing period and was highest at the beginning of tasseling(107.99 t/ha under fertilizer application F1 and 117.8 t/ha under fertilizer application F2).The yield of hay showed a trend of first increased and then decreased with the postponement of the cutting period,reached its peak in the early flowering stage(44.12 t/ha under F1 fertilization and 52.2 t/ha under F2 fertilization).The crude protein content tended to decrease,with the highest content at the beginning of tasseling(11.55 % under fertilizer application F1 and 13.57 % under fertilizer application F2);the neutral detergent fiber content tended to increase,with the lowest content at the beginning of lactation(63.27 % under fertilizer application F1 and 59.87 % under fertilizer application F2);the acid detergent fiber content and the neutral detergent fiber content followed the same trend with the delay of mowing.The trend of change of acidic detergent fiber content and neutral detergent fiber content with delayed mowing was the same,with the lowest at the beginning of lactation(36.80 % under fertilizer application F1 and 36.72 % under fertilizer application F2);the relative forage value of forage tended to decrease with delayed mowing period.4.During the growth process of pearl millet,there was a strong dependence on the application of fertilizers.After comparing different fertilization treatments,the results showed that under the condition of F2 fertilization(pure N of 300 kg/ha,pure P content of 225 kg/ha,and pure K content of 135 kg/ha),and harvested at the early flowering stage,the pearl millet could reach 115.4 t/ha,dry weight of 52.2 t/ha,crude protein content of 11.23%,NDF of59.48%,ADF of 37.50%,and relative feeding value of 93.39%.Therefore,harvested at this time can achieve higher forage yield and feed quality,and achieve economic benefits of two crops per year,thereby determining the optimal cutting period and planting method for planting pearl millet in the western part of Northeast China.