Changes of Growth and Forage Yield at Different Cutting Dates among Five Winter Cereals for Whole Crop Silage in Middle Region

There are barley, wheat, oat, rye and triticale winter cereal crops for whole crop silage. These small grains have been suitable to use for round-baled silage making as livestock feed. Studies were carried out to understand the growth and productivity of five winter cereals grown at paddy field in middle region of South Korea. The ratio of culm weight per plant were described by quadratic function for 5 winter cereals crops. The peak of culm ratio were 1 May in barley variety 'Youngyang', 5 May in wheat variety 'Keumkang', 10 May in rye 'Gogu'(Rye), 11 May in triticale variety 'Shinyoung' and 13 June in oat variety 'Samhan', respectively. The ratio of leaf per plant were linearly decreased by growing. In barley and oat, the ratio of spike weight per plant were linearly increased after heading, but in wheat and triticale, it were not accumulated at one time after heading and rapidly increased after fertilization. The ratio of spike weight per plant in barley was outstandingly higher than that of wheat, triticale, rye and oat, respectively. So, barley variety 'Youngyang' recommended for whole crop forage use was suitable for forage use because of high at ratio of the leaf and spike. The proper cutting date by the percentage of dry matter for baled-silage making, 30~40%, were 25 May in barley variety 'Youngyang', 25 May to 5 June in wheat variety 'Keumkang' and triticale variety 'Shinyoung', 15 May in rye 'Gogu' and 5 June in oat variety 'Samhan', respectively. The total aerial fresh weight accumulation at different cutting dates were described by quadratic function for barley, wheat and triticale. The forage fresh yield were peaked at 7 May in barley, 14 May in wheat, 17 May in triticale and late of May in oat, respectively. The dry matter yields of four small cereals were linearly increased after over-wintering. The yield at the date of proper harvesting time by water content for baled silage making were sequently high oat, barley, wheat, triticale and rye. The relative growth rate was relatively high in rye at early cutting but high in oat at late cutting. In barley, wheat and triticale, the rate were similar.