The role of lupin/cereal forage crops · Royal Agricultural College The role of lupin/cereal forage...
Transcript of The role of lupin/cereal forage crops · Royal Agricultural College The role of lupin/cereal forage...
Royal
Agricultural
College
The role of lupin/cereal forage crops
in organic farming
Nicola Cannon
The Royal Agricultural College Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6JS UK
Royal
Agricultural
College
Why grow lupins?
• High protein grain (32 - 45% CP) which
can substitute for imports of soya bean
• Three different species grown in the UK
suit different climatic and soil conditions
• Different harvesting options: dry grain,
crimped grain or wholecrop forage
• Legume crops, improves the N status of
soils – well suited to organic cultivation
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Agricultural
College
The nutritional properties of lupins
• Low levels of anti nutritive factors (do not need to be processed)
• Proteins are of the globulin type, digestible and bio availability are high
• Low amount of starch and high amount
of energy in the form of lipids (good for
mono-gastric animals)
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Agricultural
College
Which Type of Lupin?
Yellow lupin
(Amber)White lupin (Dieta) Blue lupin (Bora)
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Agricultural
College
The Challenges of Lupins
• Confusion over fodder and seed crop potential
• Often poor yields
• Not very competitive
• Late to harvest
• Intolerant of high pH
• Needs high P & K status
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Agricultural
College
Harvesting options for lupins
• Combining dry grain – only possible for whites in Southern UK – often difficult without desiccation
• Crimping – harvesting moist grain (about 30% moisture) for cracking and preservation with organic acids
• Wholecrop forage for ensiling either alone or mixed with a spring cereal - more that 50% of all lupins grown currently are harvested in this way
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Agricultural
College
Examples of James Southgate’s
work on forage lupins
Effect of:
* species,
* soil texture,
* pH,
* bulk density
* calcium content
on root and top
growth and
nodulation
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Agricultural
College
Examples of James Southgate’s
work on forage lupins• Species
– White / Blue / Yellow
– Sown at the suggested target population +
• Sowing Dates– Late March
– Late April / Early May
• Six Contrasting Sites from Essex – Wales
• Work carried out over two years
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Agricultural
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Examples of James Southgate’s
work on forage lupins
• Four harvest times to establish best harvest date
• Samples at each harvest ensiled in sealed silage bags
• Assessing yield, nutrient content & quality of silage– Early = Too wet & lower yield
– Late = Higher Yield but too dry to ensile
• Different maturity rates between species
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Agricultural
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The effect of soil pH on
nodulation in lupins
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
pH
No
du
le N
um
ber
Nodule Number Number of Red Nodules
Linear (Nodule Number) Linear (Number of Red Nodules)
Southgate (2007)
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Agricultural
College
Examples of Winnie Azo’s work on
organic lupin/cereal bi-crops
Aim was to establish
optimum combinations
of lupins and spring
cereals for ensiling
under organic
conditions
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Agricultural
College
Examples of Winnie Azo’s work -
theory of bi-cropping
• Higher yields and yield stability (Ofori and Stern,1987)
• Improved forage quality (Chapko et al.,1991)
• Better weed control (Inter-crop report, 2006)
• Efficient land use (Kwabiah, 2004)
• Ecological and economic advantages (McKenzie & Spaner,2002)
Organic yellow lupin / triticale
bi-crop at Harnhill, June 2005
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Agricultural
College
Examples of Winnie Azo’s work -bi-crop trials
Field trials on all three lupin species with a range of cereals were carried out in 2005
Dieta white lupin, Paragon spring wheat and Logo spring triticale were selected as the best constituents for further study in 2006
Dieta white lupin and Logo triticale at
the early stages of growth (2006)
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Agricultural
College
Winnie Azo’s work -using the
Conductance model
Key relationships are those between DM (t ha-
1) and time for Dieta / Paragon. r2= 0.61(early)
and 0.74 (late) P<0.01
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
88 102 116 130 84 98 112 126
days after sowing
DM
yie
ld (t
ha-1
)
50/0 predicted
50/0 actual
37.5/125 predicted
37.5/125 actual
25/250 predicted
25/250 actual
12.5/375 predicted
12.5/375 actual
0/500 predicted
0/500 actual
Early Late
Dieta/Paragon seeding
rates
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Agricultural
College
Comparing model predictions with bi-
crop field trials - 2006 results
Dry matter yield (t/ha) for Dieta / Paragon during the 2006 growing
season. LSD value for comparing actual yields. r2=
0.7521(regression for predicted against actual yield)
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 25 50 75 100
100 75 50 25 0
crop combitations(% seeding rate)
Dry
matt
er
yie
ld (
t/h
a)
yield actual paragon
yield predictedparagon
yield actual dieta
yield predicteddieta
paragon
dieta
LSD (P<0.05)= 2.797
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Agricultural
College
Examples of Winnie Azo’s work –
lupin/cereal bi-crop silage quality
• As dry matter % increased ammonia content decreased
• Less spoilage and better fermentation at higher dry matters –demonstrating the importance of later harvests
Relationship between the ammonia
content and dry matter % of the silages
r2=0.8035 (P<0.01)
-10.0
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0
Dry Matter (%)
Am
mo
nia
(%
of
tota
l N
)
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Agricultural
College
Conclusions• Lupin/cereal bicrops can provide high quality forage
under organic conditions
• Dieta (white lupins (Lupinus albus)) were the most reliable and predicable regarding both quality and yield
• Either spring wheat or triticale are both suitable crop partners to lupins
• Later harvest dates helps increase dry matter whilst also improving silage quality
• Harvesting at 130 days after sowing or slightly earlier was optimum for CP yields
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Agricultural
College
Thank you!