YIELD AND QUALITY OF WINTER AND SPRING TRITICALES FOR FORAGE AND GRAIN

In held experiments conducted over 2 years in Mediterranean conditions , five winter and five spring triticales were evaluated for forage and grain production in the same cropping season. The experiments had two treatments, namely harvesting for grain only, and dual-purpose forage and grain production. In the latter treatment, forage was cut when th e first node was detectable (Zadoks' stage 31), without removing the a pical meristems. Grain was harvested when ripe (Zadoks' stage 92) in b oth cut and uncut plots. Environmental conditions affected grain produ ction and protein content more than forage yield and quality. Winter t riticales yielded about 43% more forage than spring types, but after f orage removal the spring types yielded about 36% more grain than winte r triticales. Reductions in grain yield after clipping were more prono unced in winter (32%) than in spring (19%) types. Forage crude protein content was significantly higher in the spring types studied (24.6%) than in the winter types (23.5%), the opposite being true for fibre co ntent (20.7 and 21.6% respectively). Grain crude protein content did n ot differ between grain and dual-purpose treatments, but was higher in the spring triticales (12.8%) than in the winter types (11.9%). There was more variability for the measured traits within the winter tritic ales studied than within the spring types.