Evaluaton of the Government Recommended Forage Cultivars in Korea I. Forage performance and quality of oat cultivars

목초 및 사료작물 정부장려품종의 지역적응성 평가 I. 연맥품종의 사초수량 및 사료가치

Nine oat(Avena sativa L.) cultivars have been recommended as the govemment recommended forage cultivars since 1984, however, their forage performance and quality have mostly been tested at two locations, such as Suweon in the Middle Northwestem Coast Region and Sunghwan in the Middle Southwestern Coast Region. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to retest the forage performance and quality of six government recommended oat cultivars at five scattered locations, such as Icheon, Suweon, Sunghwan, Keongsan and Kwangju fom 1992 to 1994 with the intention of improving recommendations to dairy farmers. Among the oat cultivars tested, "West" was the highest yielding cultivar at all locations in 1992-94, but the lowest yielding cultivars varied by location and year. At both Icheon and Suweon, "Cayuse", "Magnum" and "Foothill", at Sunghwan, "Cayuse" , "Ensiler" and "Foothill", at Keongsan, "Magnum", "Cayuse" and "Swan", and at Kwangju, "Cayuse", "Magnum" and "Cayuse", were the lowest yielding cultivars in 1993, 1994 and 1995, respectively. At all locations in 1992-94, "West" and "Swan" were the most advanced in growth stage, but "Cayuse", "Foothill", "Magnum" and "Ensiler" were the latest developing cultivars among the oats. Differences among the oat cultivars for the three-year mean NDF, ADF and IVDMD were small and inconsistent, but forage quality of the oats was generally lowest in the early developing cultivars and highest in the late developing cultivars. The govemment recommended oat cultivars tested were generally well adapted across the country, however, in forage production situations in the fall where high yield is more important, early maturing oat cultivars might be preferable to late cultivars because they have higher forage yield earlier in the fall.ction situations in the fall where high yield is more important, early maturing oat cultivars might be preferable to late cultivars because they have higher forage yield earlier in the fall.