ABSTRACT
Objectives
Our objectives were to determine the effects of wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) establishment method [conventional tillage (CT) vs. no-till (NT)] and seeding rate
on forage and animal production.
Materials and Methods
Pastures were planted in early September of each year with seeding rates (SR) of 67,
100, or 134 kg of wheat/ha. Steers (n = 144; BW = 235 ± 23.2 kg) were placed on wheat
pasture for the fall and winter grazing season and were replaced by a new set of steers
(n = 288, BW = 263 ± 19.1 kg) for spring grazeout. Forage was sampled monthly for
forage production and nutritive quality determination.
Results and Discussion
Increasing SR resulted in increased (P ≤ 0.02) forage mass and forage allowance but tended (P ≤ 0.08) to decrease CP and ME of wheat forage in the fall and winter. No-till tended
(P ≤ 0.09) to produce less forage mass during the fall and winter but tended (P = 0.08) to increase forage mass in April. Increasing SR tended (P = 0.09) to increase steer ADG during the fall and winter. Steer gains during the
fall and winter were not affected (P = 0.95) by tillage system and were improved (P = 0.01) by NT in the spring.
Implications and Applications
Increasing SR increased fall forage production in both CT and NT and tended to increase
steer gains in the fall, without increasing total gain per hectare during the fall.
No-till establishment methods have production advantages that will likely improve
farm net returns.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 17,
2022
Received:
November 30,
2021
Footnotes
The authors have not declared any conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
