State and explain the cultivational practices of barley

1.Cropping system
-Barley is grown in rotation with other cereals and legume crops- maize, sorghum, ground nuts, cowpea field beans.
-Can be intercropped with other crops under rainfed conditions especially with legumes.

2.Land Preparation
-Early seedbed preparation gives the incorporated organic matter enough time to rot and form humus.
-The seedbed should have a fine tilth and should be free from weeds, particularly the grass weeds.
-To achieve the above aims, several ploughing and harrowing operations are usually necessary.

3.Sowing
-Sowing at the beginning of rains results in higher yields in most cases. Good quality certified seed should be used.
-Barley is commonly drilled in rows 20cm apart at depth of 2.5-5.0cm and at a seed rate of 60-100 kg/ha.

4.Fertilizer Application
-Fertilizer application must be balanced with available moisture to ensure highest yields and efficient use of fertilizer.
-Fertilizer dosage depends on the purpose of growing barley
-Barley grown for food or animal feed require higher rate than barley grown for malting. This is because the amount of grain protein in food barley is not as critical as in malting barley. A dose of 100kg N /ha and 40kg P2O5/ha for food is recommended. This can be supplemented with 40kg K2O /ha in potassium deficient soils.
-For malting barley, the nitrogen should not exceed 70kg/ha but the dose of phosphorous remains the same.
-In areas with copper deficiency, it is recommended to apply 2 kg/ha of copper oxychloride. Half of the oxychloride should be applied as seed dressing and the other half as foliar spray 5-6 weeks after crop emergence.

5.Weeding
-Most weeds affecting wheat also affect barley. However barley is a better competitor than wheat since it grows fast and has thicker stands than wheat.
-Mechanical weeding management in barley is only practicable during seedbed preparation. At this stage grass weeds must be controlled as much as possible.
-Post-emergent herbicides are applied to control broad-leaved weeds in barley. These herbicides must be sprayed at the recommended concentrations and time.

6.Harvesting and Threshing
-Barley matures in 3-6 months depending on altitude and cultivar. On large farms, the crop is combine-harvested.
-Too early harvesting usually results in shriveled seeds which are hard and high in nitrogen content that are rejected by malters.
-The crop should, therefore, be harvested when completely dry.
-Harvesting can be done manually by means of sickle or use combine harvesters when MC is less than 14%.
-Threshing especially for malting barley is important because presence of 4% broken grains is not accepted for malting and should be taken for food.
-In developed world with good arrangement for drying, it is recommended to harvest barley when grains have high moisture content (30 -40% mc). This increases the dry weigh of final product by 30%.
-High moisture content grains are harvested one week earlier than those harvested at physiological maturity.

Advantages of harvesting barley with high moisture contents:
i. High moisture content barley has a well filled kernel (grain) than those harvested at physiological maturity.
ii. Losses due to shuttering are reduced.

The yields of barley in East Africa average 1 500 kg/ha.

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Titany answered the question on August 16, 2021 at 09:44