HERBAGE YIELD AND NUTRIENT CONTENT OF OAT VAR. STAMPEDE UNDER DIFFERENT IRRIGATION INTERVALS

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess herbage yield and nutrient content of oat cultivar Stampede under four different irrigation intervals. The trial was conducted at the Lobesa agricultural farm, College of Natural Resources (CNR), from 8th August, 2016 to 1st January 2017, over a period of 145 days, with 85 days to first cut and 60 days between first and second cut. Randomized complete block design was used as an experimental design with four replicates. The irrigation treatments were T1- rainfed as control, T2- irrigation after seven days, T3- irrigation after 14 days, and T4- irrigation after 21 days. Flooding method was used to irrigate the beds. In the first cut, the plants were significantly taller (87.45 cm) in T3 and the plants were shortest (69.41 cm) in T1. Maximum number of tillers (7.33) was observed in T2 and least number of tillers (3.43) was observed in T1. In the second cut, the plants were significantly taller (44.02 cm) in T3 and plants were shortest (35.25 cm) in T1. Tiller number was almost similar among irrigation treatments. It can be concluded that, under the existing environmental condition of Lobesa, T1 (irrigation at seven days interval) provides taller plants, more number of tillers per plant, high biomass yield and high crude protein content.