Halling, Magnus
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the value, for silage production, of intermediate-heading Lolium perenne L. cultivars, AberDart and AberDove (diploid), bred for increased water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations, relative to four control cultivars (Fennema, AberElan and Spelga (diploid), and Greengold (tetraploid)). Cultivars were evaluated for forage dry matter (DM) yield, ground cover and indirect laboratory measures of nutritional value and ensilability over 3 harvest years within intensive silage-production systems. AberDove was the most desirable diploid for silage production producing on average 316 kg/ha higher (2%) DM yield per annum, having a 10 g/kg higher (1%) dry matter digestibility (DMD) and, based primarily on a 6 g/L higher (19,70) concentration of WSC expressed in the aqueous extract (WSC(AE)), offered the greatest potential to produce well preserved silage. Ensiling AberDart compared to the diploid controls offered a slightly greater probability of producing well preserved silage based on a modest increase of 2 g/L (6%) in WSC(AE) concentration. The dilemma for silage production is that AberDart, on average produced 558 kg/ha less (4%) DM yield per annum but had a greater (1%) DMD of 6 g/kg than the diploid controls. The tetraploid control had, on average, 13 and 8 g/kg higher (2% and 1%, respectively) DMD than AberDart and AberDove, but at a cost of lower ensilability with lower (6% and 21%, respectively) WSC(AE) values of 2 and 6 g/L. In its favour, the tetraploid control outyielded AberDart by, on average, 917 kg/ha DM per annum (7%) and produced comparable yields to AberDove. Final ground cover ratings were high (>= 95%) for all cultivars. Evaluation of nutritional value and ensilability offers further grounds to differentiate and select cultivars for animal production potential.
Keywords
ensilability; nutritional value; perennial ryegrass; water-soluble carbohydrate; yield
Published in
Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Ressearch
2008, volume: 47, number: 2, pages: 119-134
Publisher: TEAGASC
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/66763