Abstract:

Germplasm are important resources in genetic improvement and breeding， and forage yield and quality are key characteristics for triticale （×Triticosecale Wittmack） varieties for animal feeds. In this study， 113 triticale cultivars from 15 countries were planted in two years， and their forage yields and quality traits （fresh forage weight per plant， dry forage weight per plant， fresh-dry ratio， forage crude protein content， neutral detergent fiber content， acid detergent fiber content and relative feed value） were investigated and a comprehensive index of these traits was evaluated. It was found that forage yield and quality traits of the tested triticale germplasm lines differed significantly between cultivars and years. In two consecutive years， the range of values for measured traits was： fresh forage weight per plant， 36.000-111.560 g and 36.310-159.780 g； dry forage weight per plant， 12.000-27.000 g and 9.150-30.150 g； fresh-dry ratio， 2.380-4.370 and 2.610-6.210； forage crude protein content 6.894%-13.259% and 6.680%-14.304%； forage neutral detergent fiber content， 48.480%-74.850% and 53.850%-67.980%； forage acid detergent fiber content， 26.600%-42.780% and 29.000%-39.280%； and forage relative feed value， 69.650-128.150 and 79.840-113.170. The comprehensive index for the seven tested traits ranged from 1.974 to 2.075. The forage fiber quality factor， forage yield factor and comprehensive quality factor were the three most important principal components， with eigenvalues of 1.894， 1.618 and 1.419， respectively. These three principal components explained 82.198% of total data variation. Based on the dry forage weight per plant， crude protein content， and relative feed value， the 113 triticale germplasm lines could be placed into three groups： a higher forage yield and better forage quality group with 17 cultivars， a lower forage yield and good forage quality group with 50 cultivars， and an intermediate-yield and quality group with 46 cultivars. These results indicate that the 113 tested triticale germplasm lines exhibited rich genetic variation in yield and quality traits， which will facilitate forage triticale breeding and genetic improvement.

Key words: triticale, forage, yield, hay quality, principal component analysis