Technological System On Industrialization Of Forage Rye In Huang - Huai - Hai Plain

In the next several decades, animal feed will be the key issue for China agricultural development. Forage production and industrialization is quite necessary for bridging the gap between demand and supply of feed. As a new kind of feed, forage rye haven't cultivated and processed in crop production region until recent years. Considering the trend of animal industry development and the specific demand of forage rye , the objectives of the study focused on forage rye production and industrialization in the Huang –Huai -Hai Plain, including the biological performance, cultivation practices and techniques of process and storage of forage rye based on field experiment. Meanwhile, the utilization of forage rye, potential market demands, and the patterns of industry construction were also discussed systematically. The main results are as follows: ①The forage rye growing period is from the end of October to next April in Huanghe -Huaihe -Haihe River Plain while the fields is in the fallow state after cotton harvest. During the period, the earlier the sowing date was , the better for the yield of forage rye. Fewer amounts of seed were needed for earlier sowing, and should be increased for later sowing. The nitrogen fertilizer had a significant effect on yields and quality, while the effects of phosphate and potash fertilizer were not so significant. As nitrogen fertilizer application increased, forage rye yield increased accordingly, and its quality improved too. The amount of fertilizer application should be determined by the integration of several targets. For single target of maximum yield, the higher fertilizer applications are the better choice. However, for economically consideration, the strategies of moderate amount of fertilizer application is more suitable. For getting higher quality, higher nitrogen fertilizer application is required. The three targets could compromise only by the price of forage rye. In general, if the soil contained adequate water when sowing, just one time irrigation was needed to meet the water requirement on 1st April or so ---at the joint stage. In the special years, when the soil contained more water or the rainfall was more than usual, less or even no irrigation was needed. As the forage rye continues growing, the bio-mass is increasing but the quality of forage of rye will be obviously degraded. Forage rye could be harvested two times during the growing period. The cutting date should be chosen no later than the heading stage for just one harvest. For two times cutting harvest, the first cutting should be done when the plants were 30~40 cm height. Earlier first cutting resulted in lower time yield. However, if the first cutting was too late, the yield of the second cutting would be decreased seriously or even zero yield obtained. The total yields by two cutting were usually lower than that of one cutting, but the quality of the former was better than the latter. ②During the drying period of forage rye, the decreasing speed of moisture content of leaves was much faster than that of entire plant and stem. The dehydration speed of the stem was the slowest. The main factor affecting the drying speed was thus the amount of moisture in stem. Pressing stem of forage rye could shorten the dehydrating time because it made the moisture evaporating much easier. With the drying time of forage rye being extended, the CP content was decreasing, NDF and ADF content were increasing, causing the nutritional value decreased. Adding urea could improve forage rye CP content but had little effect on NDF and ADF. ③Forage rye can be feed for almost all kind of livestock animals. Such a specific character means a high potential market demand that is the essential for forage rye industry. The huge potential of forage rye production and the high quality products provide prerequisite for the forage rye industry developing. Because the price is relative low presently, the forage rye industry development has some economic obstacles. It is very important for forage rye industry development to built up the system of supervising of market, scientific grade standard of hay production, and matching the price with quality. Forage rye serves to livestock production and is depended upon the level of livestock industry, so forage rye industry development would be a gradual process. The character of forage rye and the situation of agriculture in China determines that forage rye industry development have to find a proper way of industrialization. "Forage company plus Farmers"or "Livestock production processing enterprise plus Farmers planting forage rye for raising livestock"would be the feasible pattern that fits the level of forage rye industry development at the present stage.