Optimizing yield and quality of silage and hay for pea–barley mixtures ratio under irrigated arid environments

Abstract

The changing climate, water scarcity, reduction in the land area under forage crops, ex-panding ruminant population, burgeoning demands for milk and meat production and food security concerns all insist on a necessary increase in forage production and quality. Cereal–legume mixed intercropping offers a biologically superior option to boost herbage yield and quality of preserved fodder (hay and silage), provided that rationalization of the component crop’s proportional ratio is performed. Therefore, the current study was conducted to determine the forage yield and quality of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) mixtures at the ratios 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100. The experiment was laid out in the regular arrangement of a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The results exhibited that forage quality was significantly affected by the mixture ratio. There was a significant improvement in protein, fiber rate and digestibility from the mixture. The ratios of barley and pea with 50:50 and 25:75 produced the maximum productivity and the best quality of forage. Regarding forage preservation, silage recorded higher contents of crude protein, ash and lower fiber contents than hay. Among seed mixtures, 0:100 ratio of barley–pea yielded the highest quality of silage with the maximum crude protein, ash and digestibility with lowest fiber contents.