THERMAL TIME REQUIREMENT AND FODDER YIELD OF DUAL PURPOSE BARLEY (HORDIUM VULGARE L.) AS INFLUENCED BY SOWING DATES AND CUTTING MANAGEMENT IN A SEMI-ARID ENVIRONMENT

BALWINDER SINGH DHILLON* AND HARI RAM
Regional Research Station, Punjab Agricultural University, Ballowal Saunkhri, SBS Nagar- 144 521, Punjab
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab
*(e-mail : dhillonbalwinder@pau.edu)
(Received: 10 September, 2021; Accepted 28 September, 2021)

SUMMARY

Field experiments were conducted during 2015-16 and 2016-17 at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to study the effect of different sowing dates and fodder cutting stages along with nitrogen application on the phenological stages of barley. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three sowing dates (October 15, October 30 and November 15) in main plots and five cutting management [un-cut (control), cut at 50 days after sowing (DAS), cut at 60 DAS, cut at 50 DAS + additional 15 kg N/ha after the cut (N15) and cut at 60 DAS + additional 15 kg N/ha after the cut (N15)] in subplots, replicated four times. Results revealed that the late sown crop (i.e. November 15) sowing recorded a significantly higher number of days to emergence, tillering, jointing and regeneration. October 15 sowing took significantly higher days to booting, heading and physiological maturity. Fodder cut at 50 DAS regenerated significantly faster than cut at 60 DAS. The booting, heading and physiological maturity was delayed significantly by a delay in fodder harvest. Application of an additional dose of nitrogen (15 kg N/ha) after fodder cut (50 and 60 DAS) took significantly more days to maturity as compared to without N application. One fodder cut of barley taken at 50 DAS without any significantly grain yield reduction and it can be delayed up to 60 DAS to get more production of green fodder (40.5 to 41.8%) than that at 50 DAS.

Key words:Barley, cutting management, phenology, regeneration, sowing date

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