Forage cereals: description

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Cattle breeding is one of the most important branches of agriculture. The main task remains to provide feed for the gigantic (on the scale of the entire planet) livestock. An important role in solving this difficult problem is played by fodder cereals. The diversity, nutritional value, unpretentiousness of plants help to successfully cope with this issue.

Cereals

The family of cereals has almost seven hundred and sixty genera and more than eleven and a half thousand species. They have different uses:

• food (wheat, rye and others);
• fodder (timothy grass, hedgehog team and others)
• used as building material (bamboo);
• for paper production (papyrus);
• as a soil erosion control method (strong root system allows sand dunes to be fixed);
• lawn (where trampling resistance is required);
• decorative (mainly for decorating large lawns or park areas).

Cereals may protrudeand like weeds. They clog crops, vegetable gardens, jam other cultivated plants. A prominent representative is wheatgrass. Although it is this grass that is often cut for hay and is widely used in horse breeding.

Actually, forage plants are grasses from the cereal family that are used as feed for farm animals. It can be hay, green fodder, pasture, silage or grain.

They are distributed all over the globe, grow absolutely on all continents, including Antarctica. This is an aboriginal called antarctic pike, or antarctic meadow, and an introduced one is an annual bluegrass. In Russia, about 30% of the sown area is occupied by cereal crops. Natural and cultivated pastures are widely used.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of cereals. They are a source of valuable, nutritious feed for all types of farm animals. It is impossible to create a reliable fodder base in the absence or lack of natural hayfields and pastures, without the use of sown fodder grasses. Agronomy uses their ability to change the chemical composition of the soil, enriching it and increasing the yield of subsequent crops.

Types of cereals

Family of fodder cereals is represented by a large number of plants. They have several classifications:

by life expectancy:

- annuals;

- perennial;

by type of tillering:

- rhizome;

- loose bush;

- dense bush;

bystand height:

- riding;

- semi-mounted;

- grassroots;

by type of cultivation:

- cultural;

- wild.

Description of cereals:

• Stem. Called a straw, usually hollow, separated by knots. Basically, the fabric is soft, non-woody, but there are also tree-like forms - bamboo. It grows quickly, the height can reach 30 meters.
• Escape. They can be vegetative and generative. Branching in the inflorescence zone or in the tillering area.
• Leaves. Narrow, as a rule, without a petiole, sessile, the vagina is not closed. Depart from each node one by one, in turn. Arranged in two opposite rows on the stem.
• Roots. The system is fibrous, effectively absorbing and storing water and nutrients.
• Inflorescences. There are several types: panicles, ears, cobs, brushes, sultans (spike panicles). The common inflorescence consists of several flowers.
• Flowers. As a rule, bisexual (contain a pistil and stamens), inconspicuous, small, there is no clearly defined perianth. Self or wind pollinated.
• Fruit. It is called a caryopsis (colloquially - grain), the pericarp is practically inseparable from the seed, the ovary is single-nested (there is one ovule in the only cavity).

Reproduction occurs vegetatively, by seeds or with the help of rhizomes.

Perennial

Perennial forage grass grows on natural pastures and hayfields, used in grass mixtures. Representatives: hedgehog, ryegrass,timothy, bonfire, awnless, foxtail and others. It can successfully grow and produce crops for several seasons. By the number of years it happens:

• short longevity - 2-3 years;
• average longevity - 4-5 years;
• long-term - above 5 years.

All perennial forage grasses are cross-pollinated. Wind pollination occurs in the morning hours. For cereal grasses, seed shedding is typical.

Annuals

Annual fodder cereals live one year. Representatives of this group of plants include mogar, corn, Sudanese grass, annual ryegrass, African millet, sorghum, oats and others.

They are often sown in mixtures such as sorghum for silage. Sudanese grass produces an excellent hay crop with a high protein content. Mogar has proven itself in the structure of the green conveyor. It begins to be harvested during the period of throwing panicles, it is eaten by all types of agricultural crops. animals and birds.

Wildlife

Fodder cereals can also be wild. These plants are widely distributed in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. They are one of the main types of food not only for farm animals, but also for wild ungulates. The fibrous root system securely holds the soil, preserving the vast expanses of the steppes in their original form.