Economic evaluation of forage production in pure and mixed crops of clover, barley and triticale in fall sowing

Introduction: Nowadays, due to the water shortage problem in the country, fodder production through intercropping of clover with cereals in the fall is considered important. One of the strategies for utilizing water resources is to cultivate forage crops in the fall to use rainwater, because agricultural land usually has sufficient moisture in the fall, which allows farmers to use the available water resources optimally at this time. Given the importance of climate change and especially the water resource crisis in the country, the cultivation of autumn forage crops is an important step in providing the necessary forage in the country.  
Materials and Methods: This experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 12 treatments and three replications in the autumn of the crop year (2024-2025) in Karaj city. The treatments included four pure crops of Persian and Lucky clover (Alborz1), triticale (Page) and irrigated barley (Yousef) and eight mixed treatments including clover-triticale and clover-barley with different ratios. The experimental treatments included T1-barley pure crop, T2-triticale pure crop, T3-lacquer clover pure crop, T4-lacquer Persian clover pure crop, T5-lacquer clover mixed crop with barley, T6-lacquer clover mixed row crop with triticale, T7-lacquer Persian clover mixed crop with barley, T8-lacquer Persian clover mixed row crop with triticale, T9-lacquer clover mixed row crop with barley, T10-lacquer clover mixed crop with triticale, T11-lacquer Persian clover mixed row crop with barley, T12-lacquer Persian clover mixed crop with triticale. For economic evaluation and selection of appropriate treatment, profitability indicators including net profit, benefit-cost ratio, product sales yield percentage, and return on investment percentage were used.
Results: According to economic results, among treatments with pure forage crops, the yield of fresh and dry barley forage was higher than other treatments. The net value of fresh and dry barley forage production in the pure barley cropping treatment (T1) was 1178 and 36.5 million rials per hectare, respectively, and was the highest. The net value of dry forage production in pure and control treatments of Lucky and Iranian clover was negative, meaning that the income generated did not compensate for the total costs. Among the treatments with intercropping of barley and triticale forage crops with clover, the net value of fresh and dry barley forage production in the intercropping treatment of barley with lucky clover (T5) was the highest at 3072 and 733 million rials per hectare, respectively. Among the treatments with row intercropping of forage crops of barley and triticale with clover, the net value of fresh and dry barley forage production in the row intercropping treatment of barley with black clover (T9) was the highest at 3750.5 and 1048.6 million rials per hectare, respectively. The percentage increase in sales yield of the intercropping treatment of barley and lucky clover (T9) compared to the treatments of pure barley (T1), triticale (T2), lucky clover (T3), and Iranian clover (T4) as controls was determined to be 39, 74.7, 445.4, and 58.2 percent, respectively.
Conclusions: Considering the high yield and profitability indicators of crop production in the T9 treatment, this treatment is recommended as the superior treatment for cultivation in the target area and similar areas from an agronomic and economic perspective. Therefore, superior forage quality in row intercropping of lucky clover with barley can be a boon for farmer-livestock farmers who are both producers and consumers of forage, as this will lead to increased efficiency in dairy production by improving the nutritional value of livestock diets.