DRY MATTER YIELD AND FORAGE QUALITY OF OAT, BARLEY AND CANOLA MIXTURE

This study was carried out to assess the improvement in forage yield and quality of winter non-legume mixtures. For this purpose oat was intercropped with barley and canola under seeding ratios of 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75% for oat: barley/canola along with sole crops. Harvesting was done at the time of 50% heading of oat. Results revealed that sole oat produced maximum dry matter yield during both the years. None of the mixtures over yielded the respective sole crop, however the oat: barley mixture at 75:25% and oat: canola mixture at seeding ratio of 50:50% were similar to sole oat. Canola alone produced the highest crude protein (CP) yield, lowest neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents. Oat mixtures with canola have higher values for relative forage values (RFV) of the forage suggesting their better quality over oat: barley mixture. Therefore, it is suggested that to have higher dry matter yield of better quality from oat: canola mixture, ratio should be 50:50 and if oat is to mix with barley ratio should be 75:25%.