Persistence of perennial ryegrass, tall fescue and cocksfoot following annual sowings: influence of grass species, ryegrass cultivar and pasture age on yield, composition and density

Persistence is an important component of perennial pasture-grass productivity. Defining traits that affect persistence is essential for improving pasture longevity through plant breeding and for identifying persistence traits that should be included in cultivar ranking indices. Compared with conventional longitudinal studies, where a single sowing is monitored over time, repeated annual sowings allow the effects on persistence of sowing year and the ensuing interactions between environment and age of pasture to be identified. An experiment was commenced in 2015 under sheep grazing in Canterbury and in 2016 under cattle grazing in Waikato, where eight cultivars of perennial ryegrass representing different ploidy, flowering date, and cultivar age (release date), and one cultivar each of tall fescue and cocksfoot were sown in four randomised complete blocks in autumn each year. This paper reports interim data on spring and autumn pasture yield, composition, and density of 3-year-old, 2-year-old and 1-year-old pastures exposed to the same environmental conditions within the same, single year. There were significant effects on yield, botanical composition, basal cover and tiller density due to cultivar, pasture age, and their interaction. When the confounding effect of year-to-year variation was removed by comparing each age cohort in the same year, the underlying differences among grass species and cultivars, and ages of pasture, is starting to reveal the nature of this influence on pasture persistence.