Evaluation of Some Barley Cultivars for Green Fodder Production and Water Use Efficiency under Hydroponic Conditions

Water shortage is considered the most important obstacle to the development of the agricultural sector in arid and semi-arid regions like Jordan. Therefore, looking for agricultural techniques that use water more efficiently is needed. An experiment has been conducted during March 2010 to evaluate three barley cultivars (ACSAD176, Rum, and local cultivar) for green fodder production, quality, and water use efficiency under hydroponic conditions. The results of this study showed that barley forage can be produced in 10 days from planting to harvest in the hydroponic system. The local cultivar was superior to the other two tested cultivars in respect to green and dry fodder yields, plant height, and conversion factor of seeds into green fodder. Green barley forage yields obtained were 222, 236 and 281 tons/ha [that means a total possible yields of 5500, 5900 and 7000 tons/ha/year can be achieved (with 25 harvests per year)] for ACSAD176, Rum, and local cultivar, respectively. This is more than 110, 118 and 140 times greater than the green yield obtained from conventional field grown alfalfa forage of 50 tons/ha/year. Moreover, the local cultivar used water more efficiently to produce green fodder than other cultivars (1.48 for local cultivar vs. 1.76 and 1.87 m3/ton for Rum and ACSAD176, respectively). This is a tremendous improvement in water use efficiency compared to 83 m3/ton produced under field conditions. Results also showed that hydroponic fodder of local cultivar was superior to field grown forages in respect to contents of crude protein, N, P, Mg, and Zn. In conclusion, local barley cultivar is the best choice for high production and quality of hydroponic green fodder with less water consumption. These findings are considered very important as seeds of this cultivar are mostly available in the market at lower price than others which reduce the cost of hydroponic fodder production.