Influence of Plant Density on Growth, Yield and Nutritional Quality of Forage Rye

To determine optimal plant density of forage rye in southern areas of Korea, forage rye cv. Paldanghomil, the highest yielding variety among experimental varieties of forage rye, was grown under five different plant density. Yield components such as plant height, and number of leaves were highest at the broad casting. Plants sown at broadcasting also showed highest fresh and dry matter yield. When plants were grown of the broad casting, they showed higher values in content of crude protein and lower values in contents of crude fiber such as neutral detergent fiber(NDF), acid detergent fiber(ADF), cellulose and lignin. There was no relationship between variation of in vitro dry matter digestibility(IVDMD) and plant density. Plants sown at the broad casting showed highest digestible dry matter yields.