2023 Regional Silage Variety Trials
This annual publication provides information on barley, oat, wheat and triticale variety silage performance in Alberta. These tables provide important yield and nutritional information. Information on agronomic traits and disease resistance can be found in the grain tables. In 2022, the Alberta Seed Processors secured funding to restructure Alberta’s regional silage variety trial program. As part of this, the Alberta Regional Variety Advisory Committee (ARVAC) testing program for cereals and flax expanded to include a Silage Subcommittee. The information and tables are prepared, reviewed and approved by ARVAC’s Silage Subcommittee.
Funding for the program is generously provided by public and private industry groups:
• Alberta Beef
• Alberta-British Columbia Seed Growers
• Alberta Seed Processors
• Results Driven Agriculture Research
Data for the 2024 growing season for this publication comes from various sources:
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada – Lethbridge
• Lakeland Applied Research Association – St Paul
• Western Crop Innovations – Lacombe
• Prairie Grain Development Committee
Starting in 2023, barley forage registration data from Alberta sites was incorporated into the Silage RVT database; registration data is used with permission from the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley and new data is added to the system when available.
Impact of Growing Season on Data Quality
Yearly trial results are greatly impacted by the growing season. There were three irrigated sites, one at Taber and two in Lethbridge, along with four dryland sites (Lethbridge, Lacombe, St. Paul and Westlock) in 2024. There was significant rainfall in May 2024 which delayed planting in the southern part of the province. Except for the Lacombe site, other locations received sufficient moisture, resulting in generally good growing conditions.
Unfortunately, hail in late July severely damaged the Westlock plots, resulting in site termination. The Taber irrigated site was terminated due to a seeding error and one of the two Lethbridge sites was terminated due to extreme site variability. Test data sets which did not pass minimum statistical quality and experimental standards were excluded. The portion of useable data from the 2024 Barley Silage trials was 43%, Oat Silage trials was 33%, and the combined Wheat and Triticale Silage trials was 43%. Overall, 40% of the 2024 regional variety trial silage data was useable for inclusion in the January 2025 table publication.
ARVAC Silage Subcommittee
The ARVAC Silage subcommittee consists of representatives from the seed industry, producer groups, university and government. Coordination of the Silage Regional Variety Trials transitioned from Sheri Strydhorst to Western Crop Innovations in August 2024. The ARVAC Silage Subcommittee members and experts who guided the 2024 field season were:
• Hari Poudel, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Karin Schmid, Alberta Beef
• Jake Bueckert and Stacey Meunier, Alberta Cattle Feeders
• Gezinus Martens, Alberta Milk
• Monica Klaas, Alberta Seed Processors (Secretary)
• Rob MacDonald, Alliance Seed
• Brian Kennedy, Canterra
• Michelle Beaith, FP Genetics
• Kenny Piecharka, KWS Seeds Canada
• Trent Whiting, SeCan (Chair)
• Blair Balog, Stamp Seeds & SeedNet
• Sheri Strydhorst (Silage Regional Variety Trial Coordinator)
• Dick Puurveen, University of Alberta
•Greg Penner, University of Saskatchewan (Nutritional Crop Coordinator)
• Mazen Aljarrah, Western Crop Innovations
• Christine Hanrahan, Western Crop Innovations (Data Analysis)
•Erin Collier, Western Crop Innovations (Silage Regional Variety Trial Coordinator)
•Lori Oatway, Western Crop Innovations (Nutritional Analysis Advisor)
• Yadeta Kabeta, Western Crop Innovations
Sincere thanks are extended to all individuals and organizations who contribute to this publication.
Trial Information
There were 12 barley, six oat, three wheat and two triticale entries in the 2024 silage variety trials. The barley and oat trials were seeded to achieve 28 plants per square foot, wheat was seeded to reach 33 plants per square foot and triticale was seeded to achieve 35 plants per square foot. Fertilizer was applied based on soil test recommendation to meet optimal silage yield goals in the various trial regions.
Barley silage trials are harvested when 75% of the barley varieties are at soft dough, BBCH 85. Wheat-triticale silage trials are harvested when 75% of the wheat varieties are at early to soft dough, BBCH 83-85, and the triticale varieties are at late milk, BBCH 77. Oat silage trials are harvested when 75% of the varieties are at milk stage, BBCH 75. However, the 2024 trials contained oat varieties with a wide range of development, with some locations showing a week or more difference in growth stages. This results in some of the later maturing varieties having lower yield and altered quality.
Yield Data Presentation
Yield data should only be compared with the check variety. Yield of the check variety is expressed as wet tons/ac adjusted to 65% moisture. It should also be noted that yields are from small plot trials, which can be higher than yields expected under commercial production.
Similar to the cereal grain tables, silage yield data is only presented if there are six site-years of data in a yield category. Beginning in 2023, irrigated and dryland experimental sites were run. Due to limited amounts of irrigated data, only overall provincial yield will be presented until sufficient data is available to populate both dryland and irrigated yield columns. Yield data from fewer than six site-years can be very misleading, which is why the change has been made to only present yield data where there are at least six site-years of data, from several sites, to represent the potential of a variety.
Nutritional Analysis
Nutritional data is presented on a dry matter basis (%DM), and was tested on forage intended for silage, not ensiled samples. Nutrition information was assessed using NIRS at Murphy Analytical. Nutritional data is presented on a dry matter basis for the following parameters: CP = Crude Protein; ADF = Acid Detergent Fibre, NDF = Neutral Detergent Fibre, TDN = Total Digestible Nutrient; Ca = Calcium; P = Phosphorous; K = Potassium; Mg = Magnesium. Prior to 2023 a limited number of nutritional parameters were tested; varieties in the tests prior to 2023 do not have a full complement of nutritional data, indicated by NT = Not Tested.
Test Your Feed
It is important to test silage prior to feeding for its actual nutritional content, as growing conditions and growth stage at harvest can have significant impacts on feed value. Nutritional data presented here are for the purpose of variety comparison information rather than feed calculations.
