Fodder cabbage
Fodder cabbage (Brassica subspontanea) — a fodder agricultural crop used for green fodder or silage.
Economic importance
Fodder cabbage is one of the most valuable fodder crops; it is eaten by all animals fresh and ensiled (in a mixture with roughages) or grazed in the field.
Due to cold resistance (adult plants withstand frosts, according to various data, from -8 to -15 °C), fodder cabbage allows the grazing period to be extended by 2-3 weeks, and the period of feeding green fodder by 1.5-2 months. When grown by the seedling method, its crops can advance far to the north and be used as post-cut or stubble crops.
In 100 kg of green mass, fodder cabbage corresponds to 13-16 feed units and contains 1.8 kg of digestible protein. It is more complete in protein balance than the green mass of maize or beet. In addition, the green mass contains about 60-100 mg% vitamin C, 80 mg/kg carotene, B vitamins, and minerals. In nutritional value it surpasses all fodder root crops.
The feeding rates of green mass and silage from fodder cabbage should not exceed for cattle 20-25 kg/day per head. Exceeding this rate by two times leads to anemia in animals due to glucosinolates contained in the green mass. Large rates of silage feeding negatively affect the taste qualities of milk.
In modern economic conditions, fodder cabbage may have an important role due to high yield and fodder advantages, with low seed consumption and a high propagation coefficient, which is especially important for peasant (farm) households and the private sector.
History of the crop
Fodder cabbage originates from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Cultivation areas
Currently it is distributed in the countries of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
The fodder cabbage crop was intensively introduced into production during the USSR in more than 40 oblasts and republics.
In Russia, its cultivation area, due to the great diversity of morphological and biological types, can extend from the Arctic Circle to the subtropics. The main cultivation region is the Non-Chernozem zone and the north of the Chernozem zone, the middle Volga region, the Urals, and Siberia.
Yield
Yield is high. In production experiments in the Non-Chernozem zone, which is the main region of fodder cabbage cultivation, the yield was 50-80 t/ha of green mass with dry matter content 12-14%.
In production, the yield reaches 40-50 t/ha, seeds — 0.8-1.2 t/ha.
Botanical description
Fodder cabbage (Brassica subspontanea Lizg) is a biennial plant of the Cabbage family (Brassicaceae).
In the first year of life, the fodder cabbage plant forms a coarse, erect stem of cylindrical or spindle-shaped form, from 30 cm to 2 m high and 3-5 cm thick. On the stem are numerous petiolate, large, succulent leaves with blades covered with a waxy coating. Leaf shape is lyrate, ovate-elongated, broadly lanceolate, flat, or curly. The stem and leaves are colored green or to varying degrees purple (due to the presence of anthocyanin). Petioles are long at the bottom and short at the top.
The root is taproot, thickened in the upper part, branched.
In the second year of life, from buds located in the leaf axils of the stem, branched and weakly leafy flowering shoots develop. Their height reaches 120-160 cm. Inflorescence — a loose raceme 50-80 cm long. Flowers are yellow or whitish. Pollination is cross. Fruit — a smooth, cylindrical silique up to 8-10 cm long, does not shatter. Seeds are round, smooth, shiny, larger than in turnip and swede. Seed color is bluish, dark gray, or black. The weight of 1000 seeds is from 3 to 6 g.
Unlike plants of table headed cabbage, fodder cabbage plants are larger, have an elongated stem and large leaves that do not form a head.
Ecological requirements
Temperature requirements
Seed germination begins at a temperature of 3-6 °C.
Young plants withstand frosts down to -3…-6 °C, adult plants — down to -8…-10 °C (down to -10…-15 °C<2>). Vegetation continues at temperatures up to +3-5 °C. The optimum temperature is 17-20 °C.
It tolerates summer heat relatively well, but growth slows. With the onset of cool weather, intensive growth resumes, with growth reaching 1.5-2 t/ha per day.
Moisture requirements
Fodder cabbage is moisture-loving but does not tolerate excessive moisture. Lack of moisture leads to delayed development, but a well-developed root system helps plants tolerate short droughts.
Intensive growth occurs in autumn and coincides with rainy weather, which, as a rule, ensures good productivity. In warm and wet years, fodder cabbage gives high yields, whereas in hot and dry years the formation of aboveground phytomass slows down, and yields are low.
Soil requirements
All soil types are suitable for growing fodder cabbage, including strongly podzolic. In granulometric composition, light loamy and fertilized loamy soils with a high content of organic matter are more preferable.
Strongly acidic soils with pH less than 4.5 are unsuitable, since plants are heavily affected by clubroot.
Floodplain lands, drained and cultivated peatlands are well suited.
Vegetation
In the first year, the growing season is 140-160 days. Feeding to animals in post-cut or stubble sowings is possible after 70-80 days.
The period from planting stems to seed harvest, that is, the duration of the second year of vegetation, is 70-130 days.
Crop rotation
It is economically advisable to place a field for fodder cabbage not far from livestock farms.
In crop rotation, it is placed, like swede and turnip, after fertilized winter crops, annual grass-legume mixtures for hay and green fodder, grain legumes, maize for silage, a layer or turnover of a layer of perennial leguminous grasses of the 1st year of use, potatoes, fodder beet, silage crops.
This crop can be returned to its former place no earlier than after 3-6 years.
In crop rotations, fodder cabbage is not placed after crops of the Cabbage family.
In post-cut and stubble sowings, predecessors can be winter crops for green fodder, early vegetables, or other early-harvested annual crops. In this case, the growing season of fodder cabbage should remain at least 85-90 days with an average daily temperature above +5 °C.
Fertilization
From 1 t of green mass of fodder cabbage, 2.86 kg N, 1.0 kg P2O5, 4.6 kg K2O, and 2.8 kg CaO are removed from the soil (VNII of Fodder named after V. R. Williams).
On sod-podzolic soils, under this crop, 30-40 t/ha of manure or compost is applied under the main autumn soil treatment, as well as 60-90 kg/ha of a.i. of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In general, the recommended fertilizer rate is N60-90P45-60K45-60. From this rate, 20-25 kg/ha of granular superphosphate is subtracted, which is applied in spring during sowing into rows, and 100-150 kg/ha of ammonium nitrate (35-50 kg/ha nitrogen) for top dressing.
Fertilizer rates are adjusted taking into account fertilizers applied under predecessors and soil fertility.
Fodder cabbage responds to the application of boron and molybdenum micronutrient fertilizers.
Soil treatment
The soil under fodder cabbage should be loose and fertilized, the field surface — leveled.
Following the harvest of the predecessor, stubble cultivation is carried out, followed by plowing to the depth of the arable layer (22-30 cm).
In spring, harrowing, cultivation, leveling of the soil surface are carried out, and on the day of sowing — rolling. In wet conditions on soils that become waterlogged in spring, milling to 16-18 cm or loosening with plows with removed moldboards is carried out.
Fodder cabbage responds well to deep pre-sowing loosening of the soil with subsequent rolling. Milling promotes earlier emergence of seedlings; field germination and yield increase compared to re-plowing.
Sowing
Seed preparation
Seed preparation consists of dressing and treatment with micronutrient fertilizers.
Sowing methods
Fodder cabbage can be grown from seeds and by the seedling method. The more common is the non-seedling method, which is more economical. However, with non-seedling cultivation, one should choose areas clean from weeds. The sowing method in this case is wide-row with a row spacing of 60-70 cm. When sowing, seeds can be mixed with a ballast at the rate of 10 kg of fine sifted granular superphosphate per 1 kg of seeds.
Usually, the plant placement scheme for the non-seedling method is 70×20-30 cm (50-70 thousand/ha plants) or 60×40 cm (40 thousand/ha plants), for the seedling method — 70×25-30 cm.
The seedling method allows obtaining higher yields, growing fodder cabbage in northern regions by lengthening the growing season, reducing the seed sowing rate by up to 60%, simplifying weed and pest control, but its costs are higher and an increase in yield is not always ensured. For planting, 35-40-day-old seedlings with 4-5 leaves are used. The hectare norm of seedlings corresponds to 75-100 m2 of seedling nursery and 0.6-0.7 kg of seeds. Seedlings are grown on warm beds or cold frames. For planting seedlings, seedling-planting machines are used.
On clean fields or when using herbicides, sowing can be carried out by a continuous (ordinary row) method without subsequent thinning (North-West Research Institute of Agriculture, Leningrad Oblast). In such dense sowings, plants form a greater number of leaves valuable for fodder and thin stems.
Sowing dates
Sowing dates for fodder cabbage with the non-seedling method are the same as for early spring cereals (breads of group I).
Sowing is carried out with vegetable seeders by the inter-row method with a row spacing of 60 or 70 cm.
Sowing rates
The sowing rate is 1.5-4 kg/ha. At a high level of agricultural technology, the rate can be reduced to 1 kg/ha; in this case, thinning of plants is not required.
Sowing depth
Sowing depth of seeds is 1-3 cm.
Crop care
Care for fodder cabbage when sowing by the wide-row method consists of harrowing with light chain harrows 2-3 days after sowing. When a soil crust forms, it is destroyed by treatment with rotary hoes. Harrowing of seedlings is carried out in heavily dense sowings.
After emergence and after planting seedlings, to control weeds and maintain the soil in a loose state, inter-row loosening begins, the number of which during the growing season is from 2 to 4. Loosening is combined with top dressing with nitrogen fertilizers.
To form the density of standing of fodder cabbage, thinning is carried out. Depending on the density and uniformity of seedlings, for this purpose transverse harrowing of crops is used in the phase of 2-4 leaves using:
- at a density above 30 plants per 1 m — a chain or light tooth harrow or bunching according to the scheme: bunch 20 cm, cut 40 cm with subsequent harrowing over bunches with chain harrows and manual checking;
- at a density of 20-30 seedlings per 1 m — bunching according to the scheme: cut 40 cm, bunch 20 cm or cut 27 cm, bunch 18 cm.
Adult plants can be damaged by caterpillars of the cabbage white, meadow moth, winter cutworm. To control these pests, spraying with a suspension of 80% chlorophos at the rate of 0.8-1.5 kg/ha a.i. is carried out.
To control weeds, in addition to inter-row treatments, treatment with herbicides is carried out, for example, Ramrod at 4-6 kg/ha a.i., before emergence.
Characteristic pests of fodder cabbage: cruciferous flea beetles, cabbage moth, rape blossom beetle, cabbage white and fly). Characteristic diseases: clubroot, black leg, gray rot, leaf and pod spot.
Harvesting
Harvesting of fodder cabbage begins in August, but it is advisable to leave it until early November (sometimes December), since even frozen plants after thawing are well eaten by animals, while other green fodders are no longer available.
Harvesting is carried out using silage combines or mower-choppers. The cutting apparatus of silage combines is equipped with a device that allows cutting stems of any thickness and prevents them from being pricked on the finger bar. When harvesting with mower-choppers, 15-20% straw, straw chaff, chaff, maize cobs, or other dry fodders are added to the silage mass to reduce losses of dry matter together with juice. Harvesting with a silage combine can be done without chopping plants, which during ensiling allows reducing dry matter losses.
Unchopped fodder cabbage in fresh form is eaten by animals better than chopped.
Growing fodder cabbage for seeds
Growing fodder cabbage for seeds is similar to seed production of cabbage of headed cabbage.
Well-fertilized areas are allocated for mother plants. Per 1 ha, 20-30 thousand stems are planted under a cultivator, plow, or manually. When planting, stems are tilted to one side along the rows, planting scheme 70×70 or 70×60 cm.
Care for mother cabbage plantings consists of loosening row spacings, tying, control of pests and diseases, top dressing, and irrigation. Seed plants are protected from birds when seeds ripen.
Seed harvesting is carried out in two phases in 2-3 passes. With proper agricultural technology, the seed yield is 0.8-1.2 t/ha.
Varieties
In the USSR, the following fodder cabbage varieties were widespread: Mozgovaya zelenaya vologodskaya, Mozgovaya zelenaya siverskaya, Tysyachegolovaya, Podmoskovnaya, and Polyarnaya 227. The last two varieties are distinguished by large leaves, which account for 70-75% of the yield; in the remaining varieties, the ratio of leaves and stems is approximately 1:1-1.5.
In Russia, as of 2005, the varieties Vekha (1991) and Dutch hybrids Redbor (2000) and Reflex (2000) were approved for cultivation.
List of sources
- Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S. et al. (1986). Plant Growing. Edited by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and expanded. Moscow: Agropromizdat.
- Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Plant Growing/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobusinesscenter.
- Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of Agricultural Production Technology. Agriculture and Plant Growing. Moscow: "Bylina".
