Catch crop of forage maize: Evaluation of dry matter production, phenological development and nutritional quality of five supplementary winter grasses

Abstract

This work evaluates the dry matter production and nutritional quality of five winter crop annual grasses as alternatives to be used as intercropping of forage maize. The trial was carried out in the South of Chile. Fifteen plots of 222 m² each were established. The species evaluated were Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westerwoldicum (LM), Avena sativa L. (AS), Avena strigosa Schreb. (AT), Secale cereale L. (SC) and Hordeum vulgare L. (HV). The dry matter production at each cut and regrowth, sheath-laminae-stem ratio, Zadoks growth scale and nutritional quality were measured. The cutting dates were July 21, August 4, August 21, September 4, September 21 and October 1. The regrowth was cut on October 1. A complete randomised block design, with a factorial arrangement of 5×6 for cuts and 5×5 for regrowth, was used. Avena strigosa was the species with the highest dry matter production in the cuts. At regrowth, LM obtained the highest forage yields. The total accumulated herbage mass was greater for LM and AT, the advantage of AT is the earlier production than LM due to its faster phenological development. LM presented the best results for nutritional quality, this is related to its phenological development. On the other hand, SC and AT were the species with more advanced phenological stages with increased fibre content and, consequently, lower nutritional quality.