Due to dry conditions producers are anticipating reduced pasture and hay yields this summer.听 Many are now considering seeding annuals for forage. With the recently introduced 鈥渃ocktail cover crops鈥� there is a long list of annual crop species that can be seeded to provide forage.听 This article will focus on the more common annual cereals, comparing cool and warm season species.
Cool Season Cereals
Barley and oats have been the traditional cool season cereals to plant for greenfeed. They germinate at 5掳C soil temperature and grow best at temperatures of 18-24掳C.听 Growth from germination is at a relatively constant rate, by the processes of cell division and expansion during the entire time they are elongating.听 This makes them relatively competitive with most annual weeds.
Cool season cereals have a greater chance of success when seeded in May. With early seeding there can be a significant amount of forage grown prior to the normally hotter and dryer days of later summer. A general rule of thumb in Saskatchewan is for each week that seeding is delayed beyond May 25, expect yield to drop by 10 per cent.
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Warm Season Cereals
Millets and corn are the more common warm season cereals grown for greenfeed. They require a minimum soil temperature of 10掳C to germinate. They grow best at daytime temperatures of 32-35掳C and nighttime temperatures not lower than 10掳C. Warm season plants have a unique growth pattern. After germination they grow to about six inches in height and then appear to stall for about three weeks.听 During this time the plants are undergoing all of their cell divisions, which is a relatively taxing biological process.听 Competition from weeds or other plants during this time will have a significant negative affect on yield so weed control the first five to six weeks is critical. Once the cell division phase is complete warm season plants grow very rapidly as the cells are now simply expanding.
Another unique feature of warm season plants is greater water use efficiency. Warm season plants can produce as much as 50 percent more forage with a given amount of moisture compared to cool season plants. 听
Considering the above, warm season cereals can potentially produce more forage than cool season cereals when seeding dates are delayed past early June. As seeding date is delayed, planting warm season cereals with good weed control can be a viable option for greenfeed. If planting occurs in early June a longer season species has the potential to produce higher yield than the shorter season species. For example Crown millet will be cut about 65-70 days after seeding and Golden German millet will be cut about 90-95 days after seeding.听 If seeding occurs in July, there may be no advantage to a longer season species due to frost stopping growth in fall.听听听
