Abstract only

Development and promotion of high yielding, drought and salinity tolerant and disease and pest resistant feed crops varieties is the main instru- mentality for the enhancement of livestock feed production in Azerbaijan. From this point of view, growing triticale for feed has favorable future prospects. Triticale breeding began in the 80-ies of the last century in our republic and it had two major directions. One of them was development of triticale varieties for producing grain forage, while the other was development of green forage triticale varieties. The developed triticale varieties are charac- terized by high yield of biomass. The advantages of the feed triticale varieties as compared with other traditional forage crops include development of robust plants, with well-leafed large and juicy stems (plant height can reach up to 170-190 cm), ability to produce high biomass even at low temperature and resistance to diseases. Multi-year observations show that leaves of triticale remain for the long time green and juicy and are not infected by powdery mildew, rust and viruses, while under even the short-term influence of low temperatures barley leaves turn yellow and loose their taste properties. The three following varieties of triticale were studied as compared with green forage barley variety Garabag-22: Spring variety Samur, facultative variety Shirvan and winter variety Capaz. The trial was planted at the farm Ziya. The varieties were planted on plots of 25 m2, in four replications. The trial was planted in the 3rd decade of September. In the 3rd decades of each month, a sample of biomass was cut out from about 1 m2 area of each plot and weighted. Crop management was carried out ac- cording to the recommended practices widely ac- cepted in the region. As the data of our experiments suggest, vari- ety Samur passes vernalization faster than the other varieties and forms up to 20-30 ton/ha of green above-ground biomass in 25-35 days after planting, while much lower values of green biomass were recorded for other varieties, including barley (12-18 ton/ha). At the end of November, triticale varieties because of their high re-growth ability formed up to 40 ton/ha of green biomass. However winter variety Capaz still lagged behind of the spring, facultative and standard varieties in terms of productivity because of the requirement for long vernalization. From December until the end of February, produc- tivity of the varieties decreased. Nevertheless tri- ticale remained green; its stems were large and juicy, which makes possible using this crop as a major component in "green mass conveyor". At harvest at the booting stage (beginning of May), triticale varieties (Capaz, Shirvan, and Samur) yielded 52, 57, and 76 ton/ha of green biomass, respectively, while barley yielded only 46 ton/ha. Under the conditions of Azerbaijan, it is pos- sible to cultivate triticale even as a pasture crop. It is characterized by high re-growth ability, better tillering, and resistance to diseases, as compared with wheat and barley. To produce high quality green forage, these varieties can be grown in mixtures with legumes crops, especially with winter vetch (Vicia L.). Strong straw of triticale serves as a good bearing for le- gumes. Our study suggests that triticale is more advantageous than other grain-forage crops. Triticale promotes better growth of winter vetch that allows for obtaining higher yields of green forage and dry hay of excellent quality. In our experiment, produc- tivity of mixed crops increased and reached 86 ton/ ha with biomass yield ofthe check being equal to 57 ton/ha. Thus, growing of the triticale varieties for green forage under irrigation as pure crop or in mixtures with winter vetch promotes forage production and contributes to provision of domestic animals with high quality green forage. Due to its excellent taste and other properties triticale achieves recognition as a promising feed crop.

English

0409|AGRIS 0401|AL-Wheat Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection