Using Long‐Term Relative Yield and Quality to Select Adapted Small Grain Forages

Selecting forage cultivars with consistent production is important to deliver an adequate supply of high quality forage through hay or grazing. Few long‐term comparisons using the same cultivars have been made in the Great Plains to show the variability or stability in small grain forage yield or quality. Annual precipitation can change greatly within the Great Plains, and a relative measures technique was successful in comparing long‐term yield and forage quality of six wheat, rye, and triticale varieties over eight drastically variable years. Yield variation was six times greater and quality variation was two to twenty‐eight times greater from the environment in which forage was grown compared to the variety selected. Relative measures showed that Presto and Trit 1 triticale had the most stable forage quality across years, both with relative crude protein and relative acid detergent fiber standard deviations of 9% and 6% respectively. Trit 1 triticale had the most stable yield across years, with a relative yield standard deviation of 11%. Pika triticale had the greatest relative yield (132% of average) and was above average each year, but had more variation than other varieties with a relative yield standard deviation of 29%. A strength of relative values analysis was the ability to assess stability of forage quality traits over highly variable environments.