Dual purpose barley for better remunerations through higher fodder and grain production under different cutting schedules

An experiment was conducted in field during the rabi season of 2019-20 and 2020-21 at the Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, CCS HAU, Hisar (Haryana), India. The design of the experimentation was split-plot and with three replications. Five fodder cutting management practices were in the main plot (i. No fodder cut, ii. fodder cutting at 50-60 DAS above 5 cm cutting height, iii. fodder cutting at 50-60 DAS above 10 cm cutting height, iv. Fodder cutting at 60-70 DAS above 5 cm cutting height, v. fodder cutting at 60-70 DAS above 10 cm cutting height) and four dual purpose barley varieties viz., BH 393, BH 946, RD 2552 and RD 2715 were placed under sub-plots. On mean basis of two years experiment, maximum plant height, tillers/m2 and GFY (green fodder yield) were recorded with fodder cutting at 60-70 DAS irrespective of their cutting heights. Maximum GFY of 81.87 q ha-1 was found in variety RD 2715. At grain harvest, maximum effective tillers/m2 (415.2), no. of grains per ear-head (48.11), grain yield (48.22 q ha-1) and straw yield (74.32 q ha-1) were recorded in fodder cut at 50-60 DAS above 10 cm height. Among the varieties, BH 946 exhibited maximum effective tillers m2 (416), test weight (45.51g), grain yield (52.53 q ha-1) and straw yield (76.23 q ha-1). Highest B:C was fetched with the grain production after taking fodder cut at 50-60 DAS above 10 cm height (2.36) and barley variety BH 946 (2.61) among the tested dual purpose barley varieties.