The introduction and use of oat (avena sativa) cultivars in pakistan
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- 2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND CROPPING PATTERNS 3. FODDER OAT INTRODUCTIONS 4. THE ROLE OF OATS 5. ROLE OF FORAGE OATS IN THE NORTHERN AREAS
- 9. CONCLUSIONS 10. REFERENCES SUMMARY
- 2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND CROPPING PATTERNS
- Medium altitude - the rain fed tracts
- The vast irrigated tracts of the plains
- 3. FODDER OAT INTRODUCTIONS
- Forage crops cultivars released by various Institutes in Pakistan Crop/cultvar Institute/Station Year of Release (i) Oats
- (iii) Berseem Agaiti FRI, Sargodha, Punjab 1986 Pachaiti FRI, Sargodha, Punjab 1986 (iv) Maize
- (vii) Sorghum-Sudan grass Hybrid
- Oat Seed Multiplication and Extension
THE INTRODUCTION AND USE OF OAT (AVENA SATIVA) CULTIVARS IN PAKISTAN by Dr. Muhammad Dost Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), Gilgit, Pakistan CONTENTS
SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND CROPPING PATTERNS 3. FODDER OAT INTRODUCTIONS 4. THE ROLE OF OATS 5. ROLE OF FORAGE OATS IN THE NORTHERN AREAS 6. INFORMATION ON FODDER OATS (MAINLY) FROM OTHER COUNTRIES 7. OAT RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS IN PAKISTAN 8. OAT SEED PRODUCTION 9. CONCLUSIONS 10. REFERENCES SUMMARY This article describes how the introduction of improved, multi-cut, high yielding cultivars of forage oats (Avena sativa L.) has changed the crop’s status in Pakistan from one limited to a few stations and large farms to one of the most important cool-season fodders in the space of less than twenty years. Livestock, especially cattle and buffaloes, mainly stall-fed, are very important in Pakistan’s agricultural economy. Crop residues, sown fodder, and sometimes a little rough grazing form the basis of the ration with concentrates for commercial dairy stock.. There is a strong and increasing demand for meat and dairy products. Agricultural land is limited so the main way to increase forage availability is through increasing yield per unit area. Much of the agricultural areas have a suitable climate for year-round cropping so green feed, from a range of cold and hot season crops is the main forage supply. Urban dairying is very important and they depend on forage which is grown as a cash-crop for town sale. The introduction of the new oats coincided with a great expansion of the dairy industry which gave an added impetus to commercial forage growing in the irrigated tracts. The main winter fodder had been berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) which is still grown on a vast scale; it is an excellent forage and yields well in autumn, if sown early and in spring but performs poorly in the coldest weeks of winter which is a major period of forage scarcity; unlike oats, berseem cannot readily be conserved as hay. Berseem is another case of astonishingly successful introduction and uptake by the farming community: it was introduced to Sind from Egypt between eighty and ninety years ago and in twenty years was the main winter forage throughout lowland Pakistan and the northern irrigated tracts of India, displacing the former winter legumes Trifolium resupinatum and Melilotus indica almost totally. The methodology of introduction, screening, selection, field testing and extension are described; along with the very necessary seed bulking and distribution. Special attention is given to the great success of fodder oats in the smallholder areas of the Northern Areas at altitudes from 1,000 m to 2,300 m, where forage is part of the subsistence system, to help over winter stocks which graze alpine pastures when they are free of snow. World literature on fodder oat cultivation is reviewed, along with national work, in a second section and there is a comprehensive bibliography.
Resolving forage and livestock feed constraints through year round forage availability, as well as the supply of sufficient quantities of milk and milk products, have dominated Pakistan’s agricultural development strategies for almost thirty years. A chronic fodder shortage, most serious in winter, is a major limiting factor for livestock production. There are two traditional fodder deficit periods, December-January (when the traditional winter fodder crops, especially berseem, the major winter fodder (Trifolium alexandrinum), oats (Avena sativa), shaftal (Trifolium resupinatum), and lucerne (Medicago sativa) are dormant) and May-June (when the main summer season fodder crops such as maize (Zea mays), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), Sorghum-Sudan grass hybrids (Sorghum vulgare var. sudanense) have just begun growth and the winter fodder season is over). Until recently seed of improved fodder cultivars, especially multicut oats have not been available, so there has been a scarcity of fodder both in terms of quantity and quality. Oats (Avena sativa L. and Avena byzantina C. Koch) rank fifth (Dost, 1997) in terms of world production of cereals. They are also widely used as a companion crop for under-seeding of forage legumes. Oats are mainly grown in temperate and cool sub-tropical environments. In Pakistan, although not used as human food, they are an important winter fodder, in both irrigated and rain fed areas as green feed, hay, silage or grazed. The average green yield of local cultivars (tall with very narrow leaves and thin stems, hence, not responsive to nitrogenous fertilizers due to lodging) under rain fed conditions is 20 tons/ha (Bhatti et. al., 1992), which is very low and insufficient to provide even maintenance rations for the numbers of livestock kept. In winter farmers have only dried summer grass or dry stalks of summer cereals to supplement the small amount of forage grown and have to purchase costly fodder transported in large quantities from distant, irrigated tracts. In contrast to local landraces, improved oats grow very fast, can be cut earlier and have considerable potential to provide feed during deficit periods and low temperatures. In Balochistan province, wheat was traditionally used as fodder; however, with the introduction of improved forage oats, use of wheat for fodder has been reduced. Generally, farmers harvest these fodders at 50 percent flowering, or at a later stage to get maximum green yield with a consequent loss in quality (Dost, 1997). The ideal fodder oat should be high in crude protein (12.42 per cent) and digestibility (in vitro dry matter digestibility - 67.42 percent), and low in crude fibre - acid detergent fibre (33.13 percent). Fodder yield and quality is greatly influenced by plant age, the crude protein content and in-vitro dry matter digestibility decreasing as the forage crop matures. Of course dry matter yield increases with advancing maturity (Dost et al., 1994). Appreciating the importance of improved oats as a promising source of early, nutritious fodder, and to overcome the winter feed problem, the Government decided to import oat cultivars from countries thought to be the best potential sources of germplasm. 2. FARMING SYSTEMS AND CROPPING PATTERNS In Pakistan, most of the crop production is in four major agro-ecological regions. With variations in climatic conditions, dependence on irrigation or rainfall, temperatures, soil fertility, land holding size etc., four major farming systems are prevalent: (i) Medium to high altitude - the mountain/hilly regions such as the northern parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Northern Areas and parts of Balochistan. Those near the Himalaya get reasonable rain; the Gilgit and Northern Area lands are in a rain shadow and rely on irrigation, often spate irrigation deriving from snow or glacier melt. Land holdings are very small and arable areas limited to scattered irrigable alluvial fans. Crops are often undersown in orchards. Agriculture is purely subsistence. Livestock comprise both cattle and small ruminants. Dry stock and small stock may go on transhumance. These areas are 1,000 to 2,300 m above the plains and have cold to extremely cold winters. At medium elevations, maize, rice, potato, wheat, barley, and shaftal are grown; at higher elevations (2000 m), seed potatoes, wheat, buckwheat, foxtail millet, barley, oats, and alfalfa are grown. (ii) Medium altitude - the rain fed tracts, mainly the Pothowar plateau, Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Chakwal, Jehlum, Attok, Mianwali, D. G. Khan (Punjab), Bannu, Karak, Kohat, parts of D.I. Khan (NWFP), and most of Balochistan have conditions similar to the irrigated areas, but mainly depend on rain for cropping. Large ruminants are important, and forage production is very seasonal; there may be some rough grazing. Major crops are mustard, wheat, barley, oats, and lentils in winter; maize, sorghum, millet, guar, and groundnut in summer. Maize is an important dual purpose crop in high rainfall regions, but it is replaced by groundnut in drier areas. (iii) The vast irrigated tracts of the plains - Central and Northern Punjab, parts of NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan are where the bulk of Pakistan’s agriculture is, with intensive commercial farming over very large areas. Large ruminants especially dairy buffaloes are important, stall-fed on crop residues and fodder. With warm temperatures and plentiful irrigation, conditions are optimal for luxuriant crop growth for ten months of the year, so year-round forage production is possible. At low altitude, in a monsoon climate, these areas are sub-tropical with searingly hot summers. Wheat, cotton, sugar cane, maize, rice, lucerne, berseem, and oats are other main crops. These areas meet almost all the grain and forage requirements of the urban dairies, including those in rain fed regions. (iv) Coastal areas - with sub-tropical conditions, such as south Sindh and parts of Balochistan. Pearl millet, sorghum, maize, sugarcane, barley, and oats are common. The rainfall is scattered and erratic and irrigation is a factor of extreme importance, allowing cultivation in difficult areas. Amongst climatic factors, temperature and water availability are the major ones. Soils with regards to both their physical and chemical properties, which influence water holding capacity and fertility, affect production systems. These factors also influence pH and salinity levels of the soils. The major winter forages are oats (Avena sativa), berseem (Trifolium alexandrinium), lucerne (Medicago sativa), vetch (Vicia villosa var. varia), barley (Hordeum vulgare), mustard (Brassica spp.); the summer forage crops are maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), sorghum sudan grass hybrid (Sorghum vulgare x. sudanense), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), and guar (Cymopsis tetragonoloba). In most rain fed regions, farmers grow local landraces of traditional forages such as sorghum, millet, mustard, and barley with inherent low yield potential and poor nutritive value. Livestock are fed on dried maize-sorghum-millet stalks and graze wild grass of extremely low nutritive value. In winter, wheat is cut and fed. Poor nutrition results in poor health and production. In prolonged droughts, even productive animals are sold to get cash for domestic needs. In the rain fed tracts, forage availability is the major criterion in deciding which kind of stock to keep. Wheat and maize in rain fed areas are subsistence crops; groundnut and melons are cash crops. Sorghum with maize, and mustard intercropped in wheat, are the major green forages, supplemented by maize thinning and weeds. Barley and oats are special forages generally grown for sale near big cities and urban areas, mainly under tubewell irrigation. Several thousand tons of oat forage are transported to urban dairies daily in season. Forage fetches reasonable prices in winter for the needy farmers. Thousands of urban dairies, generally without land for forage production, rely on daily purchase. In dry seasons, these peri-urban commercial farms cannot meet the forage requirements of city dairies. Due to the large gap between forage supply and demand, it is transported from irrigated areas hundreds of kilometres from some big cities. In rain fed areas wheat straw and sorghum/maize/ millet dry stalks are the bulk of feed. In addition to green and dry forages concentrates are fed to animals in milk. Livestock rearing has evolved specialized crop management practices e.g. intercropping of companion crops, maize thinning and fallowing of land help to feed animals. Farmers in rain fed areas have developed cropping patterns in response to rainfall, moisture, manure availability, soil fertility, and forage requirements. Of all these factors rainfall is the most important. There are therefore, three very different fodder situations: (i) First, in rain fed areas agriculture is for subsistence and crops depend on rainfall. Forage requirements are partly met through forage crops and partly by grazing fallows; (ii) Second, in the irrigated tracts peri-urban forage production is mainly for commercial purposes, and (iii) Thirdly, in high altitude mountain regions both forage production and stock rearing are for subsistence and forage requirements are partly met through cultivated forage on very small holdings where irrigation is available and partly through using alpine grazing to the maximum extent. On the plains there are two very different types of stock rearing: subsistence and commercial; the latter in the peri-urban or “milk shed” areas of towns, with some even in town. There are also two levels of fodder production; some farmers grow for their own stock (again sub-divided for subsistence and commercial) while others grow fodder as a cash crop and may not have livestock. Commercial forage farmers practice very intensive cultivation and usually produce four crops per year from the same piece of land due to optimum temperatures, availability of irrigation, proper planting time and management, with application of balanced doses of fertilizers with different times of application to sustain soil fertility for maximum/early crop growth and productivity. Commercial dairies are rare in the rural tracts but very important around big cities such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Charsada, Nowshera, Quetta, and Mirpur, AJK. Feed for these dairies is transported by truck, tractor trailer, and camel/bull/donkey carts for forage produced nearby, but some is produced and transported from over 300-400 km away e.g., from Hyderabad/ Sukkar/Nawab Shah to Karachi; from Kasur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Renala Khurd to Mirpur (AJK) and Rawalpindi-Islamabad, and from Nowshera, Charsada, Mardan, and Malakand to Peshawar. Cities in irrigated regions have relatively close forage sources, but Karachi, Islamabad-Rawalpindi, and Mirpur (AJK) must purchase feed from distances of 300-400 km. Buffaloes predominate in town dairies of Punjab, NWFP, and Sindh, as their milk is preferred to cow milk and fetches a higher price, essentially because of its higher fat content (8.5 vs. 4.5%). In Quetta, Balochistan, less than half of the urban herd is buffalo, due to several factors including lack of irrigation, scarcity of green and dry forage and because buffaloes require nearly twice as much forage and feed as cows. Afghan refugees brought their pure and cross Friesian cattle to Quetta with them and their excellent condition and performance has attracted local dairymen to cattle. Rising transport costs have increased the making of oat hay. Data are not available, but huge quantities of oats are now regularly made into excellent hay, baled and transported over long distances. In the 1950s and 1960s, oats were grown for fodder, but mainly to make hay for horses, then the main transport animal in rural and urban areas. The rapid rise in the popularity of oats over the last fifteen years has been due to the introduction of high yielding cultivars that provided several cuts, such as cvs Scott, S-81, Tibour, Cuscade, Swan, and PD2-LV65. In the late 1980s the dairy industry began to expand and more and more milk marketing outlets became available. A large number of milk processing units have been installed. The expanding urban population has provided a lucrative milk market and dairy farming is now better managed. Forage production is an important business especially near big cities; a range of crops are grown to maintain a year-round supply. Improved, multi-cut oats are very popular in urban irrigated areas such as Kasur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Renala Khurd (Punjab); Nowshera, Charsada, Mardan, and Peshawar (NWFP); and Hyderabad, Sukkar, and Nawabshah in Sindh. Oats have almost replaced the poor quality wheat and rice straw that was the basis of winter feed; berseem provides very high-quality cool season forage and is marketed in vast quantities, but production tends to peak in spring and is poor in the coldest months – it cannot easily be made into hay. Improved oats provide forage in cold weather when other green feed is scarce and are replacing the forage brassica which were formerly used in the winter gap (Suttie, 2000). Nevertheless, forage yields are low compared to their potential. Improved cultivars and technology have been slow to reach the small scale farms which account for the bulk of forage production. Also seed production has lagged behind plant breeding and introductions. Recent medium scale on-farm work has indicated that yields can be raised two to three times with the use of available improved varieties and appropriate agronomic techniques. In an area where land and irrigation are the major limiting factors to enhancing fodder production, intensification is the only way to meet the country’s needs for livestock products and hence, forage. 3. FODDER OAT INTRODUCTIONS Fodder oats were introduced during the early British era, but it was only in the 1970s that 400 oats cultivars were acquired from Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and USA. These included materials donated by NZ DSIR/NZ CFRI in 1979 and form the basis of Pakistan’s fodder oat improvement programme. Further commercial importations were made under the World Bank (Hill Farming Project) for Azad Kashmir in the 1980s. Some cultivars from this material still play an important role in the provision of green-feed or hay across a wide range of ecologies. The Fodder Research Programme, National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), which has the national mandate in fodder improvement, also introduced several improved oat cultivars from Western countries in the mid 1980s. During the late 1980s, the FAO Afghan Programme arranged for fodder oat material to be multiplied with private seed companies in Pakistan, and under Government supervision at research centres. [See the Annual Report of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) which includes the work of the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad. http://www.parc.gov.pk/annual.html ] The Fodder Research Institute, Sargodha < http://www.punjab.gov.pk/agriculture/Research_Institutes/fri_sgd.htm > , is the only research institute in the country to handle the need for seeds of improved or promising forages. It used to be a small station and Military Farm in the suburbs of Sargodha producing fodder for horses, mules, and milking animals for military needs. The Research Institute has 200 hectares of irrigated land for breeding, evaluation, screening, management, selection, and recommendation of forages suited to various agro-ecological conditions in general and especially for the vast irrigated areas of the country. Since the Institute has a relatively large area of irrigated land, seeds of almost all the improved or promising forage cultivars are multiplied. The Institute has sub-stations in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur for screening under different climatic conditions. Due to easy availability and access of the farming communities to seeds of improved forages, especially oats in Sargodha and Faisalabad, both cities have now become a major source of fodder as a cash crop which is transported and traded in large quantities and hauled over great distances throughout Punjab. The forage cultivars (oats and others) released by the Fodder Research Institute, Sargodha and other research stations are listed below: Forage crops cultivars released by various Institutes in Pakistan Crop/cultvar Institute/Station Year of Release (i) Oats
(ii) Barley
(iii) Berseem
(iv) Maize
(MaizexTeosinte) (v) Millet
(vi) Sorghum
(vii) Sorghum-Sudan grass Hybrid
______________________________________________________________________ The Fodder Research Institute(FRI) Sargodha CCRI which works under the Ayyub Agricultural Research Institute, Pirsabak, NWFP (Cereal Crops Research Institute, Pirsabak, NWFP), AARI, Faisalabad (Ayyub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad) MMRI, Sahiwal (Maize & Millet Research Institute, Sahiwal), RARI, Bahawalpur (Rainfed Areas Research Institute, Sahiwal). Improved oats from Sargodha, other research centres and private seed companies have been grown and used routinely by farmers, usually around big cities (from where fodder is transported daily for sale to private and government commercial dairy units and army dairy farms) in lowland rain fed areas, as well as in mountain areas with extremely limited land holdings and irrigation facilities, for some 20 years. In October-November the summer fodders are finished and most winter forages are not yet ready for harvest so there is an acute shortage of fodder. Oats provide assured feed early in the winter if sown at the end of August or beginning of September to be cut at the end of November - beginning of December. Oat Seed Multiplication and Extension: The Fodder Research Programme, National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad is responsible for introducing the seed of almost all the new varieties of various forage crops in Pakistan. All the introduced forage crop varieties are evaluated for forage and grain yield traits at NARC, Islamabad. In the meanwhile, seed is multiplied for further evaluation. Based on the initial yield evaluation and performance data, some promising introductions are selected for evaluation and multiplication in different agro-ecological zones. The Fodder Programme NARC has forage evaluation and multiplication cooperative substations in the four provinces of the country. The selected cultivars are further evaluated in national uniform evaluation trials at all substations under the supervision of scientists from the NARC, Islamabad. As most of the forage research substations have sufficient area for seed multiplication, those cultivars suited to their agro-ecological region are initially multiplied at these stations. Also, the Fodder Programme, NARC, Islamabad and Fodder Research Institute Sargodha have larger areas for seed bulking; therefore, the maximum quantities of all the selected oats are multiplied by both programmes. The seed thus bulked is sold to small farmers, commercial growers, both Government and private dairy farms and other agencies/organizations interested in improved oat fodder production and development. In Pakistan, most of the seed of improved forage and grain crops is usually multiplied by private seed companies, Government Research and Extension Centres and to a limited extent by commercial growers. The seed thus multiplied is sold to the interested growers throughout the country. The bulk of the improved seed is mainly purchased for seed multiplication in the irrigated regions and the surplus quantities of seed is sold to the private dealers who transport the seed for sale in rural areas. These private local seed dealers are the main source of supply of improved oat seeds to the small as well as big commercial farmers. In the near past, no small farmer knew about the potential of forage oats cultivars for livestock and never grew oats. Under the Productivity Enhancement Project in 1997-98, large scale demonstrations and seed multiplication of improved oats was done on farmers’ fields throughout the country. Village seed producers were linked with the private seed companies and private seed dealers in all cities for sale and purchase of improved oats seed. The seed companies and seed dealers became a major source of future oats seed bulking and so improved its availability to the small farmers and seed producers. The seed procured by the seed and private dealers in almost all the big towns is now regularly bought and sold in local markets in the rural areas. Most farmers save a lot of their own seed from the initial supply from the seed merchants. Also, the non government organizations such as National Rural Support programme (NRSP), Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), Punjab Rural Support Programme (PRSP), and Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP) are working at grass root level in rural areas over almost 70 % of the country. These rural support programmes played a very important role in demonstrating improved forage crops, especially oats. Interested communities indicate their needs for seeds of oats and other improved crops. The representatives of rural support programmes arrange procurement from reputable sources and deliver it to the farmers homes. In this way seed of improved oats became accessible to the small farmers at the village level. This has helped in the quick dissemination of improved oats seeds, even in the remote areas throughout the country. For the last several years, the Fodder Programme NARC, and private seed companies have been actively involved in the seed multiplication of improved oats for the FAO Afghan Programme for use in Afghanistan. Directory: agp -> agpc agpc -> Reporting Officer agp -> Submitted by: g V pollard, slac-slcm date: 21 February 2006 II. Visit to Download 0.77 Mb. Share with your friends:
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