Forage Productivity and Quality of Domestic Italian Ryegrass and Barley Varieties

This study was carried out to determine the forage production and quality of Italian ryegrass (IRG) and forage barley developed by Korea in Suwon, 2009~'10. The nine treatments were two IRG varieties(Kowinearly with early maturity and Kowinmaster with medium maturity), five barley varieties (Youngyang, Wooho, Yuyeon, Dami and Youho), and two mixtures (Kowinearly+Yuyeon and Kowinmaster+Yuyeon). The heading dates of Kowinearly and Kowinmaster were 14 May and 18 May, respectively. The growth stage of barley investigated at 22 May were late milk in Youngyang and Wooho, early dough in Dami and early to medium dough in Yuyeon and Youho. Plant length of IRG in IRG+barley mixtures was 117~118 cm, which was longer than those of IRG monoculture of 98~101 cm, and no lodging was found in mixtures. The dry matter (DM) percentage at harvest was 20.7~25.4% in all treatments. The botanical composition of IRG in mixtures was 43.1%. The percentage of spike per barley plant was become high according to progressed maturity, as a 35.7%, 44.1%, 54.8% and 57.2% in late milk, dough, yellowish and full ripeness stage, respectively, and the spike percentages of Youngyang and Wooho were tends to high. The crude protein (CP) content of IRG as 9.0~10.0% was higher than that of barley (7.0~8.5%), and the contents of NDF and ADF of barley were lower than those of IRG, and in vitro DM digestibility were 64.4% in Kowinearly, 64.1% in Kowinmaster, 64.5% in mixture, and 60.2%(Youho) to 66.4%(Wooho) in barley. The yields of DM, CP and in vitro digestible DM were high in Kowinmaster+barley mixture as a 11,508kg, 1,046kg and 7,422kg per ha, respectively(p less than 0.05). However, no significant differences in forage yield were observed among cultivar of IRG, and barley, although Wooho was tends to high in digestibility and forage yield among five barley varieties. In conclusion, the mixture cultivation of IRG Kowinmaster+forage barley was recommended, because of preventing of IRG lodging, higher plant length of IRG, increasing of forage yield, and stable production. Selection of suitable winter forage species and variety for district, climate environment, and utilization type of farm was also important.