Royal

Agricultural

College

The role of lupin/cereal forage crops

in organic farming

Nicola Cannon

The Royal Agricultural College Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6JS UK

Royal

Agricultural

College

Why grow lupins?

• High protein grain (32 - 45% CP) which

can substitute for imports of soya bean

• Three different species grown in the UK

suit different climatic and soil conditions

• Different harvesting options: dry grain,

crimped grain or wholecrop forage

• Legume crops, improves the N status of

soils – well suited to organic cultivation

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Agricultural

College

The nutritional properties of lupins

• Low levels of anti nutritive factors (do not need to be processed)

• Proteins are of the globulin type, digestible and bio availability are high

• Low amount of starch and high amount

of energy in the form of lipids (good for

mono-gastric animals)

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Agricultural

College

Which Type of Lupin?

Yellow lupin

(Amber)White lupin (Dieta) Blue lupin (Bora)

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Agricultural

College

The Challenges of Lupins

• Confusion over fodder and seed crop potential

• Often poor yields

• Not very competitive

• Late to harvest

• Intolerant of high pH

• Needs high P & K status

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Agricultural

College

Harvesting options for lupins

• Combining dry grain – only possible for whites in Southern UK – often difficult without desiccation

• Crimping – harvesting moist grain (about 30% moisture) for cracking and preservation with organic acids

• Wholecrop forage for ensiling either alone or mixed with a spring cereal - more that 50% of all lupins grown currently are harvested in this way

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Agricultural

College

Examples of James Southgate’s

work on forage lupins

Effect of:

* species,

* soil texture,

* pH,

* bulk density

* calcium content

on root and top

growth and

nodulation

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Agricultural

College

Examples of James Southgate’s

work on forage lupins• Species

– White / Blue / Yellow

– Sown at the suggested target population +

• Sowing Dates– Late March

– Late April / Early May

• Six Contrasting Sites from Essex – Wales

• Work carried out over two years

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Agricultural

College

Examples of James Southgate’s

work on forage lupins

• Four harvest times to establish best harvest date

• Samples at each harvest ensiled in sealed silage bags

• Assessing yield, nutrient content & quality of silage– Early = Too wet & lower yield

– Late = Higher Yield but too dry to ensile

• Different maturity rates between species

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Agricultural

College

The effect of soil pH on

nodulation in lupins

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8

pH

No

du

le N

um

ber

Nodule Number Number of Red Nodules

Linear (Nodule Number) Linear (Number of Red Nodules)

Southgate (2007)

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Agricultural

College

Examples of Winnie Azo’s work on

organic lupin/cereal bi-crops

Aim was to establish

optimum combinations

of lupins and spring

cereals for ensiling

under organic

conditions

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Agricultural

College

Examples of Winnie Azo’s work -

theory of bi-cropping

• Higher yields and yield stability (Ofori and Stern,1987)

• Improved forage quality (Chapko et al.,1991)

• Better weed control (Inter-crop report, 2006)

• Efficient land use (Kwabiah, 2004)

• Ecological and economic advantages (McKenzie & Spaner,2002)

Organic yellow lupin / triticale

bi-crop at Harnhill, June 2005

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Agricultural

College

Examples of Winnie Azo’s work -bi-crop trials

Field trials on all three lupin species with a range of cereals were carried out in 2005

Dieta white lupin, Paragon spring wheat and Logo spring triticale were selected as the best constituents for further study in 2006

Dieta white lupin and Logo triticale at

the early stages of growth (2006)

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Agricultural

College

Winnie Azo’s work -using the

Conductance model

Key relationships are those between DM (t ha-

1) and time for Dieta / Paragon. r2= 0.61(early)

and 0.74 (late) P<0.01

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

88 102 116 130 84 98 112 126

days after sowing

DM

yie

ld (t

ha-1

)

50/0 predicted

50/0 actual

37.5/125 predicted

37.5/125 actual

25/250 predicted

25/250 actual

12.5/375 predicted

12.5/375 actual

0/500 predicted

0/500 actual

Early Late

Dieta/Paragon seeding

rates

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Agricultural

College

Comparing model predictions with bi-

crop field trials - 2006 results

Dry matter yield (t/ha) for Dieta / Paragon during the 2006 growing

season. LSD value for comparing actual yields. r2=

0.7521(regression for predicted against actual yield)

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 25 50 75 100

100 75 50 25 0

crop combitations(% seeding rate)

Dry

matt

er

yie

ld (

t/h

a)

yield actual paragon

yield predictedparagon

yield actual dieta

yield predicteddieta

paragon

dieta

LSD (P<0.05)= 2.797

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Agricultural

College

Examples of Winnie Azo’s work –

lupin/cereal bi-crop silage quality

• As dry matter % increased ammonia content decreased

• Less spoilage and better fermentation at higher dry matters –demonstrating the importance of later harvests

Relationship between the ammonia

content and dry matter % of the silages

r2=0.8035 (P<0.01)

-10.0

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0

Dry Matter (%)

Am

mo

nia

(%

of

tota

l N

)

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Agricultural

College

Conclusions• Lupin/cereal bicrops can provide high quality forage

under organic conditions

• Dieta (white lupins (Lupinus albus)) were the most reliable and predicable regarding both quality and yield

• Either spring wheat or triticale are both suitable crop partners to lupins

• Later harvest dates helps increase dry matter whilst also improving silage quality

• Harvesting at 130 days after sowing or slightly earlier was optimum for CP yields

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Agricultural

College

Thank you!