Significant fodder production cannot easily be realized mainly due to the pressure on
land for the production of staple food crops to feed the ever increasing human population in Ethiopia. To meet the parallel increasing demand for green fodder, one of the alternatives is hydroponic fodder to supplement the meager pasture resources. A study was conducted at Wollega University to evaluate the effect of watering interval, harvesting dates and landraces on fodder yield and nutritive values of three local barley landraces viz: black barley, Mosno, and white barley under hydroponic systems. All three landraces were grown for 12 consecutive days in lath house at 2, 3 and 4h watering intervals. The fodder was harvested at 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th days of growth. There were significant differences (P<0.05) among dates of harvesting on hydroponic fodder yield and yield related components of all the landraces. The highest fodder growth was observed at 12th days after sowing, whereas the highest dry matter (DM) yield was recorded at the 6th day of growth. The average dry matter yield for the landraces were 23.3t/ha, 18.78t/ha and 19.85t/h2 for black barley, Mosno and white barley, respectively. The crude protein (CP) and cell wall contents were higher for sprouted barley landraces than its grain. The DM content of the barley grain was 93.6% and decreased to 91.1% for sprouted barley at 12th day of harvesting. The 6th date of harvesting of sprouted barley resulted in higher In vitro-dry matter digestibility. The CP content had increasing trend and remained highest on 12th day of harvesting. Therefore, it can be concluded that watering at 4h interval had resulted in the highest biomass yield and yield related components of barley grown under hydroponic system. Among the landraces used in this experiment, Mosno was found to be best variety for green fodder biomass yield and as well for better nutritive values. The 12th date of harvesting was identified as optimum time of harvesting for highest hydroponic fodder yield and yield related components. Sprouting barley had highest CP, cell wall contents (NDF, ADF and ADL) and ash contents compared to its grain counterpart. The IVDMD
and DM percentage were higher in barley grain than sprouted barley fodder landraces. Watering at 4 h interval and harvesting at 12th day could be recommended for applications for the production of optimum fodder with better nutritive values from hydroponically grown barley. On the basis of this finding, it is also very important to undertake feeding experiments to see dairy performances of cows and/or other feeding trials for evaluating animal performances and economic returns.
