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Harvest management based on leaf stage of a tetraploid vs. a diploid cultivar of annual ryegrass
Author(s) -
Solomon J. K. Q.,
Macoon B.,
Lang D. J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/gfs.12313
Subject(s) - forage , tiller (botany) , lolium multiflorum , biology , agronomy , cultivar , leaf blade , loam , stage (stratigraphy) , soil water , paleontology , ecology
Leaf stage‐dependent defoliation is linked to the plant's physiological status and may be a more suitable criterion than time‐based intervals for harvesting forage grasses, but no reports of research with annual ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westerwoldicum ) were found. To address this, a 2‐year field study was carried out at Raymond, MS , on a Loring silt loam soil (fine‐silty, mixed, thermic Typic Fragiudalfs). Forage production, morphological characteristics and nutritive value responses to defoliation based on leaf stage (2, 3 and 4 leaves per tiller) and two residual stubble heights ( RSH ; 5 and 10 cm) of a tetraploid (“Maximus”) vs. a diploid (“Marshall”) cultivar of annual ryegrass were quantified. Forage harvested, in 2011, increased linearly as leaf stage increased from 7.3 to 8.8 Mg/ha, but during 2012 was least (7.0 Mg/ha) at 3‐leaf stage and similar at the other two leaf stages (7.6 Mg/ha). Tiller density was less for Maximus (1,191 tillers/m 2 ) than for Marshall (1,383 tillers/m 2 ). Leaf blade proportion decreased with increasing leaf stage and was greater by 9% for Maximus than for Marshall. Generally, forage nutritive value became less desirable with increasing leaf stage. There was a dichotomy in forage harvested and nutritive value responses, but maximum forage productivity was achieved when annual ryegrass was defoliated at the 4‐leaf stage interval.