Ongoing research at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, UK, is confirming that hybrid rye can be used as an alternative to wheat in poultry rations.
The rationale behind the project reflects the decreasing wheat yields that have been achieved in the UK over recent years.
The research into rye-based poultry rations has been developed by the PhD postgraduate student, Stephen Evans.
The Co. Tyrone native spoke at the recent Poultry Industry Education Trust conference.
He explained: “I am currently looking at four different varieties of autumn-sown hybrid rye.
“The cereal has been chosen for a number of reasons. First off, the crop requires less fertiliser than wheat. It is also more drought-resistant.”
The work undertaken up to this point at Harper Adams indicates that rye can constitute a 50% replacement source for wheat, without impacting on bird performance.
Stephen Evans again: “The work also indicates that rye, when used in this way, is a more than suitable ration in poultry rations for those farmers who are home mixing.”
But getting farmers to grow greater areas of rye is also part of the work envisaged at Harper Adams.
With this in mind, a separate PhD project is about to get underway at the Shropshire-based university, looking at the agronomy of the cereal and how best it can fit in to modern tillage rotations.
Rye
In many ways, the research carried out by Stephen Evans up to this point complements the work carried out by Teagasc, looking at the feasibility of utilising hybrid rye in numerous ways across the farming and food chain.
While rye has been grown as a wholecrop option across the island of Ireland for some time, ongoing trial work at Teagasc Oakpark in Co. Carlow is pointing to the cereal’s potential for grain production.
The cereal can be put to a number of uses, chief among them being: whiskey production; flour production; and its inclusion in mongastric and ruminant feeds.
Teagasc’s Dr Ritchie commented: “From an agronomic perspective, rye offers a number of advantages. It is a very high yielding cereal crop, relative to wheat and barley.
“It is also very resistant to Take-All. This makes it a very attractive option with a cereal rotation.
“Rye is also an extremely strong rooting crop, which makes it very drought-resistant.”
The ongoing Teagasc trials are also confirming that rye produces very high yields of straw.
This is because the cereal is so much taller than either wheat or barley. Straw yields of between an extra one and two 4×4 bales per acre can be expected, relative to wheat and barley.
