Effect of Oats and Wheat Genotype on In Vitro Gas Production Kinetics of Straw

Simple Summary Increases in cereal grain yields cause the accumulation of large amounts of straw on the soils after grain harvest. Straw is usually burned in the field to help soil preparation for the next crop, a practice resulting in local and global pollution, erosion, loss of soil carbon, and wildfires. An alternative is feeding straw to ruminants, but straw has poor nutritive value, making this option unattractive to Chilean farmers. Oats and wheat have been bred for greater grain yield and improved agronomic traits, but it is unknown whether the straw of different varieties and breeding lines differs in nutritive quality. To investigate this possibility, we incubated the straws from 49 different varieties and breeding lines of oats and 24 of wheat with rumen microorganisms, and studied gas production as an indication of the extent of straw digestion. We found moderate differences among varieties and breeding lines of oats and wheat in gas production, which were not detrimental to agronomic characteristics of importance. If these results can be confirmed in animal experiments, gas production of straw incubated in rumen microbial cultures may be used to identify cereal genotypes whose straw has a better nutritive quality for ruminants. Increases in cereals grain yield in the last decades have increased the accumulation of straw on the soil after harvest. Farmers typically open burn the straw to prepare the soil for the next crop, resulting in pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, erosion, loss of soil organic matter, and wildfires. An alternative is feeding straw to ruminants, but straw nutritive value is limited by its high content of lignocellulose and low content of protein. Cereal breeding programs have focused on improving grain yield and quality and agronomic traits, but little attention has been paid to straw nutritive value. We screened straw from 49 genotypes of oats and 24 genotypes of wheat from three cereal breeding trials conducted in Chile for in vitro gas production kinetics. We found moderate effects of the genotype on gas production at 8, 24, and 40 h of incubation, and on the maximum extent and rate of gas production. Gas production was negatively associated with lignin and cellulose contents and not negatively associated with grain yield and resistance to diseases and lodging. Effects observed in vitro need to be confirmed in animal experiments before gas production kinetics can be adopted to identify cereal genotypes with more digestible straw.

Automated summary

Increases in cereal grain yields have led to an increase in straw accumulation, often burned in the field causing pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, erosion, loss of organic matter, and wildfires. Alternative solutions, such as feeding straw to ruminants, may offer a more sustainable approach to utilize straw resources.