Daon, a mid-maturing forage barnyard millet variety developed by the Rural Development Administration. [Rural Development Administration]
Daon, a mid-maturing forage barnyard millet variety developed by the Rural Development Administration. [Rural Development Administration]

South Korea has completed a full variety lineup for forage barnyard millet, a summer roughage crop that can be grown reliably in rice paddies, raising hopes for expanded domestic roughage production and greater self-sufficiency amid the government's push to broaden strategic crop direct payments.

The Rural Development Administration said Wednesday it had developed a new late-maturing forage barnyard millet variety called Manon, completing an early-, mid- and late-maturing variety system alongside the existing early-maturing Joon and mid-maturing Daon.

Forage barnyard millet is an annual summer roughage crop cultivated for feed production. Its strong tolerance for high temperatures and moisture allows it to grow reliably in paddies with poor drainage during the monsoon season. Farmers had previously relied mainly on sorghum and feed corn, but those crops are vulnerable to flooding and waterlogging, limiting their suitability for paddy cultivation.

The Rural Development Administration began collecting and evaluating domestic and overseas genetic resources in 2016 to develop varieties suited to paddy conditions. The newly developed Manon is a late-maturing variety with a long growing period and broad leaves, yielding roughly 13 percent more than the Jeju landrace variety.

Alongside the new variety, the agency established cultivation and storage guidelines covering optimal sowing times, seeding rates and harvest schedules, and developed techniques for producing low-moisture haylage and dry hay. Applying six or eight layers of plastic wrap depending on the storage period can cut plastic use by up to 40 percent compared with current practice, reducing storage costs, the agency said.

The economic case has also been confirmed. Forage barnyard millet can be double-cropped with Italian ryegrass (IRG), a winter roughage, enabling year-round roughage production from a single paddy. Under the strategic crop direct payment scheme, farmers can receive 500,000 won ($337) per hectare for winter roughage and 5.5 million won per hectare for summer roughage, with an additional 1 million won per hectare incentive for double-cropping. Factoring in those payments, the net profit from a forage barnyard millet-plus-IRG double-cropping system works out to about 23 percent — or 1.24 million won per hectare — higher than a conventional food rice-plus-IRG system.

The crop can be harvested using existing mowers and round balers, eliminating the need for new equipment purchases. On a dry-matter basis, its price is also about 31 percent lower than imported hay, which the agency expects will help livestock farmers cut feed costs.

The Rural Development Administration is currently conducting field demonstrations at 50 sites nationwide covering 279 hectares this year. Technology transfers for Joon and Daon have been completed with five private seed companies, and a transfer for Manon is under way. Seeds produced this year will be supplied to contracted companies, with seed production set to expand next year ahead of full farm distribution beginning in 2028.

Cho Yong-min, director of the National Institute of Animal Science under the Rural Development Administration, said forage barnyard millet is "a promising crop that can contribute to expanding summer roughage production in paddies and improving domestic roughage self-sufficiency," adding that the agency would "pursue systematic seed multiplication and farm distribution to ensure the research outcomes take stable root in the field."


adastra@heraldcorp.com