Biomass production and feeding value of whole-crop cereal-legume silages

Summary

In eastern Finland, 12 mixtures of spring wheat, spring barley, spring oats and/or rye with vetches and/or peas were evaluated in field experiments from 2005 to 2007 for their dry matter(DM) production, crude protein (CP) concentration and digestibility using three different harvesting times. Spring wheat-pea and spring wheat-vetch-rye mixtures produced the highest DM yields (5,000-6,000 kg/ha) while the lowest yields were found with spring oats-vetch (4,000 kg/ha DM). The highest CP concentrations were found in vetches (200 g/kg DM) and lowest in spring cereals (90-120 g/kg DM). Organic matter digestibility was highest in peas 700-750 g/kg) and lowest in spring rye and wheat (550-610 g/kg). It is suggested that decisions concerning when to harvest legume-cereal mixtures for forage could be based on the maturity stage of the cereal, because changes in digestibility and CP concentration are slow in legumes during the potential harvesting period.