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Effect of Forage Utilization on Wheat Grain Yield¹

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.) is used as both a grain and a forage crop throughout Texas. The general practice is to graze wheat during the winter and remove the cattle in the spring to produce a grain crop. Data are needed on the effect of forage utilization on wheat grain production to enable farmers to make management decisions about the alternative uses of the crop.

Field experiments were conducted to determine the effect of forage removal at three stages of plant development on wheat grain yield. Two cultivars were harvested for forage throughout the vegetative stage of growth. The final forage harvest was timed to correspond to the early, mid, or late-joint stage of development. Growing points were not removed in any of the treatments. All treatments, including a check that was not harvested for forage, were harvested for grain yield at maturity.

Delaying the final forage harvest resulted in a significant, progressive reduction in grain yield for both cultivars in each year. Grain yield reductions due to forage utilization ranged from 4 to 84 %. Delaying the final forage harvest generally resulted in reduced tiller survival and fewer seeds per head but had little effect on the average weight per seed.

The data indicate that forage utilization should be terminated by the early joint stage or earlier to obtain maximum grain yields. Removal of livestock on a certain calendar date every year would not be an acceptable practice due to the variation in jointing dates among cultivars and among years.

Key Words: Triticum aestivum L. • Yield components • Morphological development

² Former research associate, associate professor, and professor, respectively, Dep. of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M Univ.

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