INTRODUCTION AND USE OF OAT CULTIVARS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Oats is a major cereal fodder crop of winter season in Pakistan. The developments in various aspects and use of oats in the country includes: oat harvested for fodder at or before 50% flowering stage showed better compromise of reasonable fodder yield as well as fodder quality. Harvesting of oat for fodder after 100 or 115 days of planting and then seed at maturity provided a good package of fodder yield, seed yield and fodder quality. Varieties PD2-LV65, Sargodha–81 and No. 725 are better in fodder yield and quality under agro-climatic environments of Islamabad. Oat varieties Jasper and PD2-LV65 gave an excellent performance across different ecologies of the country. Peshawar (North West Frontier Province) and Islamabad areas are better for quality oat fodder production. Application of fertilizer at the rate of 150-kg nitrogen and 25 kg phosphorus to oats crop is economical for optimum fodder production (18.23 t/ha dry matter). Oat + vetch (50:50) mix cropping should be disseminated for quality fodder production. Improved oats fodder production technology has 152 % more income than farmer’s technology. Various research institutes in the country have released nine oat varieties for general cultivation for fodder.

Introduction

Oats (Avena sativa L.) is one of the most important cereal fodder crops grown in winter throughout Pakistan both under irrigated and rain fed conditions. Temperate and cool sub-tropical conditions are congenial for its growth. A well-distributed rainfall of 400 mm and an optimum temperature range 16-32^oC during the four months duration is sufficient to meet its requirement as a fodder crop. It is a quick growing, palatable, succulent and nutritious crop and forms an excellent combination when fed along with other cold season legumes, like berseem or Egyptain clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), Lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Indian clover (Melilotus indica), Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum) and pea (Pisum arvense), or vetch (Vicia sativa). The oats can provide green fodder after 60-70 days in emergency to tide over the scarcity period but after 90-100 days to get large quantity of fodder. Oats fodder is mostly fed as green and surplus is converted into silage or hay for use during the fodder deficit periods. It is favorite feed of all animals and its straw is soft and superior to wheat and barley. It is high in TDN, protein, fat, vitamin B1 and minerals as phosphorus and iron. The oats grain is particularly valuable feed for horses, dairy cows, poultry and young breeding animals of all kinds. Comparative fodder yield and quality performance of winter cereal fodders is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Green fodder yield (t/ha), dry matter yield (t/ha) and crude protein (%) of oats, barley and wheat.

Oats                             64.60                              11.40                                    8.10

Barley                          56.30                              10.20                                    7.72

Stage of Maturity and effect of cutting

The growth or maturity is a very important factor that influences the quality of oat. In general, with the advancement of maturity, dry matter yield, acid detergent fiber, neutral, detergent fiber, hemi-cellulose, cellulose, lignin and silica increase while crude protein and cell contents in the whole plant and plant parts decrease in concentration. It is a well-established fact that high concentration of cell wall contents is associated with low intake and digestibility. Higher lignin and silica contents also depress the digestibility of structural carbohydrate. It has been observed that cell wall constituents and dry matter contents increase in the subsequent cuttings while the crude protein contents start declining in the later cuttings. The plants become weak by too early and frequent cuttings and are usually more susceptible to drought, heat, winter injury and prevalent diseases. On the other hand delayed harvesting till maturity does not offer any compromise between maximum forage yield, high protein and increased digestibility. Cutting at early growth stages is essential to obtain better quantity and quality of the forages. Therefore, a compromise is necessary in forage management for maximum vigor of plants and maximum quality of forage. Fodder yields and crude protein of oats and barley under different cutting stages are presented in Tables 2 and 3.

CS-1, Repeated cutting at 4-Ieaf stage; CS-2, repeated cutting at tillering stage; CS-3, repeated cutting at jointing stage; CS-4, repeated cutting at booting stage; CS-5, harvesting once at head emergence stage; CS-6, harvesting once at 50% flowering stage; CS-7, harvesting once at 100% flowering stage; CS-8, harvesting once at early milk stage; and CS-9, harvesting once at early dough stage.

Table 3: Green fodder yield (t/ha), dry matter yield (t/ha) crude protein contents (%) of oats at various cutting stages.

PD2-LV65

Pre-booting                              61.10                           13.70                           8.40

Booting                                    64.40                           15.20                           7.44

After-booting                            63.90                           21.00                           7.16

Avon

Pre-booting                              51.10                           15.80                           8.56

Booting                                    60.30                           16.90                           7.50

Increased Dry Matter Yield

Generally maximum yield and quality do not go hand in hand. It has been observed in almost all the forage crops that the percentage of crude protein and total cell contents decrease with the increase in dry matter yield. Also, the percentage of various cell wall contents tends to increase with the increase in dry matter contents. Since higher concentration of cell wall constituents are generally related to reduced intake and low digestibility, therefore, higher dry matter yield in forages would be accompanied by a decline in desirable quality traits and increase in undesirable quality traits. Therefore, a compromise between maximum dry matter yield and desirable quality traits needs to be made which is not impossible. Effect of harvesting stage on forage yield, seed yield and crude protein contents is shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Dry matter yield (t/ha), seed yield (t/ha) and crude protein contents (%) of oats under different cutting intervals.

CT 1                             1.98                                        1.86                             14.41

CT 2                            3.31                                        1.77                             13.03

CT 3                             5.35                                        1.48                             10.39

CT 4                             7.41                                        1.41                               8.67

CT 5                           14.29                                           -                                  7.79

CT 6                               -                                            2.19                                 -

CT 1, cutting for fodder 70 days after sowing (DAS) and then for seed at maturity; CT 2, cutting for fodder 85 DAS and then for seed at maturity; CT 3, cutting for fodder 100 DAS and then for seed at maturity; CT 4, cutting for fodder 115 DAS and then for seed at maturity; CT 5, cutting at 50% flowering stage for fodder only; and CT 6, cutting for seed only at maturity.

Fodder Varieties

Results of extensive research on oats varieties have indicated a tremendous amount of genetic variation for their fodder yield and quality potential. The most interesting feature of the studies is that there is a wide variation for structural carbohydrates and crude protein contents in varieties harvested at the same growth stage and time. It is encouraging that choice of selection for maximum forage yield and quality is possible. The forage yield and Crude protein of various cultivars of oats observed at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad is presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Green fodder (t/ha), dry matter (t/ha) yield and crude protein contents (%) of various oats varieties.

S-81                      75.06                             8.98                           10.94

PD2-LV65            82.83                           12.08                           10.06

Avon                     68.67                             9.26                             9.65

No. 656               70.97                             9.53                           12.44

No 681                71.45                             9.41                           12.24

No.725                81.32                           11.84                           11.66

SS-l                     71.30                             9.83                           10.21

S-141                  71.14                           10.68                           10.33

No.707                67.44                             9.67                           10.09

LSD (0.01)          8.55                             2.05                             0.62