Producción y calidad del forraje de variedades de triticale cultivadas en condiciones de sombra, para su utilización en sistemas agroforestales

Abstract

Triticale is a cereal with an increasing interest to be used as forage crop in dehesas. However its productive behaviour growing under shade conditions is still unknown. Then, the objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of tree cover on the biomass yield and nutritive value parameters (crude protein, neutral and acid detergent fibre, and lignin) in three triticale cultivars, cv Fronteira, cv Montijano and cv Verato, very frequently used in dehesas. In 2014/2015 in a dehesa farm from Badajoz (South-West of Spain), 1.5 ha were sown with each cultivar. In four trees of each, forage samples were taken two times, late winter and late spring, from three areas: under tree cover, out of the tree cover influence, and from the border area. Forage was carried to the laboratory where the different determinations were performed. The results showed that tree cover has a high and clear influence on the biomass yield and quality parameters of the triticale forage. Whilst the winter herbage production was enhanced by tree cover, the spring and annual productivity decreased around 30% under shade conditions. The nutritive value parameters of the forage were also enhanced by tree cover in general terms, especially crude protein and fibre, this latter parameter in the winter forage. None of the cultivars examined showed a special aptitude to grow under shade conditions.