Technical Report: Grain yield and forage yield of dual-purpose barley varieties as affected by cutting frequency under Mediterranean rainfed conditions

Abstract

Barley is considered an important cereal because of its wide adaptability to different soil and climatic conditions and its suitability for a variety of purposes specially food and feed for humans and livestock. Availability of a sufficient amount of forage is one of the most important challenges of livestock feeding during the winter and early spring in integrated crop-livestock systems in rainfed drylands. Barley is an important forage crop that provides good quality forage for these seasons when it is cut or grazed in suitable vegetative stages in drylands. Barley can regenerate vegetative parts such as stems and leaves after cutting or grazing and they produce grain after this regeneration. Hence, barley can produce both grain and forage for livestock in the same growing season with the production system defined as dual-purpose. However, this bi-directional production can be affected by variety and cutting times. There are limited studies available on how frequently crops can be clipped during the early vegetative growth of barley without compromising final yield and total biomass production. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different cutting frequencies on crop performance, grain, and forage yield of dual-purpose barley cultivars under Mediterranean rainfed conditions.