. Agri-news. Agriculture. January 29,2001 Triticale, different from other cereals One crop that has been an 'up-and-comer' for the past 20 years is triticale. It was touted as a crop that was going to increase in silage acres in the 1980 s and people are still discovering its merits. Many Alberta producers wonder why it hasn't taken off as predicted. "Probably one of the main reasons is that we haven't really understood how to manage this species properly," says Ron Hockridge, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Wetaskiwin. "Triticale is differe
. Agri-news. Agriculture. January 29,2001 Triticale, different from other cereals One crop that has been an 'up-and-comer' for the past 20 years is triticale. It was touted as a crop that was going to increase in silage acres in the 1980 s and people are still discovering its merits. Many Alberta producers wonder why it hasn't taken off as predicted. "Probably one of the main reasons is that we haven't really understood how to manage this species properly," says Ron Hockridge, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Wetaskiwin. "Triticale is different from other cereals, so we can't use the same criteria for managing ; Triticale has a wider harvest window. It maintains optimum moisture for making silage for a much longer time than barley. However, that does not explain what happens to quality over that time period. Generally, plants accumulate more energy when given a longer period to photosynthesize. They also increase in biomass, but some of that biomass is fibre and insoluble carbohydrates. These are the parts that decrease the digestibility of forages. As with other crops, per cent protein decreases as it gets more mature but it accumulates more protein in total. "Research has shown that triticale silage can have excellent energy and digestible protein content," adds Hockridge. "In theory, this should translate into good performance from livestock. However, some farmers have experienced poorer results than they expected with some classes of livestock. It is not always easy to pinpoint what has gone ; Time of cutting is important for any forage. Most cereal silages are cut at the soft dough to mid-dough stage. Moisture is ideal at that time and it seems to represent the best balance between yield and quality. Research on triticale has not been clear. Initial results from some experiments suggested it should be cut earlier. Further testing has shown this to not necessarily be true. &quo
Size: 2953px × 846px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcollectiontoronto, bookleafnumber31, booksubjectagriculture
