Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1974

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences

Major Professor

Vernon H. Reich

Committee Members

L.F. Seatz, L.M. Josephson, J.R. Reynolds, R.R. Shrode

Abstract

An experiment was conducted for two years on Decatur silt loam soil at Knoxville, Tennessee, to compare the yields of five triticale cultivars, Arthur wheat and Balbo rye. The study also compared clipping to two stubble heights and planting either early October or late October to early November. Several laboratory evaluations of forage and grain yields also were made.

The experimental design was a randomized complete block design, with forage evaluations analyzed as a split-split-plot arrangement and grain analyzed as a split-plot arrangement of treatments within each year. Regression analysis was used to determine the sums of squares for the analyses of variance since the statistical design was unbalanced due to winter kill.

Balbo rye yielded an average of almost 1000 kg/ha more forage than the next highest cultivar. Fas Gro 131 triticale, when harvested in the vegetative stage of growth for two years. Planting early and cutting to a stubble height of 5 cm resulted in significantly more oven-dry forage clipped in this stage of maturity. Percent fiber of most cultivars tested ranged from approximately 20 percent in early spring to about 32 percent by the last vegetative stage harvest. Balbo rye ranged from 26 to 40 percent over the vegetative stage harvests during the two years tested. Percent lignin ranged from about 2 percent to almost 5 percent, with Balbo rye again higher than most other cultivars. Percent crude protein of the cultivars harvested in the vegetative stage ranged from approximately 23 percent in early spring to 15 percent by the last vegetative stage cuttings. Most cultivars were similar in percent crude protein.

Fas Gro 131 triticale averaged 8496 kg/ha over the two years tested compared to 4981 kg/ha for Balbo rye when cut in the late milk to early dough stage of maturity. Planting early and cutting to a stubble height of 5 cm resulted in the most oven-dry forage. Percent fiber of the cultivars ranged from 32 to 43 percent, while percent lignin ranged from 4 to 6.5 percent during the two years of this study. There was little variation among the cultivars with respect to percent crude protein or percent P, Mg and K, Arthur wheat and Balbo rye averaged 0.09 and 0.21 percent Ca, respectively, while all triticale cultivars were intermediate.

When harvested as grain. Fas Gro 131 triticale yielded as high as or higher than Arthur wheat and Balbo rye when planted early; however, Arthur and Balbo were much more stable with respect to date of planting. Percent crude protein ranged from 14 to 19 percent over the two years of this study. All cultivars were similar in percent P, Mg, K and Ca.

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