A Complete Guide to Selecting, Harvesting and Cultivating Oat Grass Seeds
Oat grass, also known as bell oat, belongs to the grass family, genus Avena. It tolerates poor soil, resists drought and cold, and has high forage value; its leaves and straw are juicy and tender with good palatability. The straw contains 5.2% crude protein and 2.2% crude fat, making it a high-quality forage for cattle, horses and sheep in winter. It is very suitable whether used as green feed, silage or made into hay. So how do you select and harvest oat grass seeds? What are the cultivation methods? Let's take a look together below.
1. How do you select and harvest oat grass seeds?
Oat grass seeds have abundant endosperm, with a tiny embryo at the base and the hilum opposite the embryo. Choose seeds with a 1000-grain weight of 2.3-3.5g. Generally, after one year of storage the germination rate of the seeds drops greatly, and after 4 years of storage their germination capacity is completely lost. When harvesting oat grass for seed, it should be done when the color of the spike turns from green to yellow; you can harvest 375-750kg/ha. The seeds shed easily, so they should be harvested in time. Sowing with fresh seeds can improve the seedling survival rate.
2. Cultivation methods for oat grass
1. Crop rotation
Oats should not be grown continuously and can be rotated with crops such as potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, corn, sorghum, peanuts and sugar beet.
2. Land preparation
Oats are mainly spring-sown. For sowing oats, the quality of land preparation must be good; deep ploughing in autumn before sowing is one of the important conditions for a high yield, and 1500-2500 kg of organic fertilizer can be applied per mu.
3. Sowing
The sowing period varies with region and cultivation purpose. In the north it usually starts in early April and ends in early June. In warm regions it can be planted again after the summer crop is harvested. For sole cropping of oats, the sowing rate is 10-15 kg/mu; for oat grown for green fodder, it can be planted somewhat more densely, with the sowing rate increased by 20%-30%. Drill sowing is generally used, with a row spacing of 15-30 cm and a soil covering depth of 3-4 cm. Oats are suitable for mixed sowing with legume crops such as peas and hairy vetch, with the oat sowing rate accounting for 2/3-3/4. In areas where smut is prevalent, warm water seed soaking can be carried out.
4. Field management
This is mainly topdressing and irrigation. The principle of fertilization is to mainly use nitrogen fertilizer in the early stage and mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in the later stage, to prevent excessive growth causing lodging. From tillering to jointing is the period of greatest water demand, so attention should be paid to ensuring an adequate water supply.
5. Disease control
The main diseases of oats are covered smut and rust, etc.; the main pests are armyworms, grasshoppers, mole crickets, wireworms and white grubs, etc., which should be detected and prevented in time.
6. Harvest
To harvest oat grain, harvest when the grains in the upper part of the spike have reached full ripeness while the grains in the lower part of the spike are at the dough stage; the yield can generally reach 100-150 kg per mu. Oat grown for green fodder can be cut from jointing to flowering, and can be cut twice, with the first cut leaving a stubble of about 5-8 cm; the fresh grass yield is generally 1500-2000 kg per hectare. When making hay or silage, it is best to cut from the milk stage to the dough stage.
The above is an introduction to oat grass. Oat grass has a wide range of uses; it can be used as medicine, as feed, and also has ornamental value. In recent years, with the establishment of artificial grasslands, oats have begun to be planted in large quantities in pastoral areas and have developed rapidly, becoming an important feed source in the local lean season. They are favored by the majority of herders, and the planting area is also continuously expanding.
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