FORAGE YIELD AND QUALITY OF SEMIDWARF BARLEY

Semidwarf barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) with enhanced lodging resistance has been developed for feed grain production. Its potential as a fora ge crop has not been evaluated. Our objective was to determine forage yield, forage quality, and grain yield of semidwarf barley compared wi th conventional barley cultivars developed for malting and feed grain production. Three semidwarf experimental barley lines were compared wi th two conventional height malting barley cultivars in the field at St . Paul, MN, on a Waukegan silt loam (fine-silty over sandy or sandy-sk eletal, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludoll) and at Crookston, MN, on a Wheat ville loam (coarse-silty over clayey, frigid Aeric Calciaquoll). Semid warf barleys averaged 24% less stem and 29% greater inflorescence prop ortion than conventional barleys. Leaf blade and leaf sheath proportio n for semidwarf and conventional height barley were similar. Semidwarf barley averaged 11% less whole plant acid detergent fiber (ADF), 8% l ess neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and 8% less acid detergent Lignin ( ADL) concentrations than conventional height barley. Whole plant crude protein concentration did not consistently differ for the semidwarf a nd conventional height barley. Whole plant NDF, ADF, and ADL concentra tions were negatively correlated with inflorescence percentage (r(2) > 0.75) and grain yield (r(2) > 0.85) and positively correlated with st em percentage (r(2) > 0.48) and height (r(2) > 0.98). Forage and grain yields of semidwarf and conventional height barley were not consisten tly different. Lodging resistant, semidwarf barley had superior forage quality compared with conventional height barley and thus has good po tential as a forage crop when grown alone or as a companion crop for f orage establishment.