!4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 3,1984
C‘
By Dr. John E. Baylor
Director of Market Development
Beachley-Hardy Seed Company
Cool Season Grasses -
How Well Do You Know Them?
(continued)
Most perennial grasses grown
for forage in the Northeast are
classified as cool-season grasses,
i.e. they require a cool, moist
climate for optimum growth. Last
month we considered cool-season
grasses in general, their good
points and bad points, and we took
a brief look at two grasses, Ken
tucky bluegrass and Perennial
ryegrass. In this column we will
zero in on several of the tall
growing cool season grasses grown
in the Northeast.
Everyone agrees that Or
chardgrass has one of the highest
yield potentials of any perennial
grass grown in the region. And it is
an excellent grass to grow with
alfalfa. But its early heading habit
along with its aggressiveness and
low forage quality as it approaches
maturity have made many forage
producers look to other grasses.
The development of later
heading varieties such as Pennlate
gave this grass new life. But
varieties that head out even later
are needed, if the other good
qualities of this grass are main
tained.
Orchardgrass in combination
with a lequme, alfalfa or ladino
clover, is excellent for pasture.
Growth begins early in the spring,
and if properly managed using
rotational grazing it can be
maintained in a young, leafy stage
and will not be overly competitive
with the compamon legume.
Bromegrass
While still popular among forage
farmers who know it, we’ve seen
few recent improvements in
Smooth bromegrass. Adapted to a
wide range of soil types, this leafy,
sod-forming perennial prefers a
deep, well-drained, feud- 1 n
While not considered quite as
productive as orchardgrass, and
it’s also somewhat difficult to seed,
the feed quality of smooth
bromegrass is much better,
especially at more advanced
stages of maturity. And when
grown with a legume it's excellent
for pasture, hay or silage.
The varieties Baylor and
Saratoga are the most popular and
best producers in the Northeast.
Timothy
Despite its know weaknesses,
namely shallow-rooted, drought
and heat susceptible, poor
regrowth and relatively short
lived, Timothy is still the most
widely grown tall grass in the
Northeast. Grown primarily for
hay in association with either
alfalfa or red clover, Timothy is
easy to establish and does produce
a good quality hay if harvested by
the tune the heads have emerged.
Varieties currently available
include high yielding, early
maturing Toro and the 7-10 day
later heading Climax. For timothy
growers in the upper Northeast
there is also the very late heading
Champlain. These varieties give
farmers a choice of maturities
depending on where they farm and
the associated legume.
Reed Canarygrass
Plant breeding breakthroughs
are causing forage producers to
take a new look at Reed
Canarygrass, a grass that has
often been criticized by livestock
farmers throughout the Northeast.
—V.
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This high-yielding sod forming
perennial does well for pasture,
silage or hay on a wide range of
soil conditions. It is know to thrive
on wet land, but it is also very
drought tolerant and grows well in
association with several legumes
including alfalfa.
Furthermore, Reed canarygrass
is known to be as digestible to
ruminants as most perennial
temperate grasses and legumes.
Yet because of low palatability and
occasional poor performance by
grazing cattle and sheep this
potential!} excellent grass has
never been widely accepted.
Recently scientists discovered
that alkaloids in this grass were a
major factor responsible for poor
animal acceptance. They also
learned that it was possible to
breed new varieties low in
alkaloids and high in relative
palatability.
As a result two new low alkaloid
varieties, Palaton and Venture,
have been released and are, or
soon will be, commercially
available. Performance - wise in
the field they are similar to older
varieties. But because of lower
alkaloid contents they have
demonstrated much greater
palatability and increased animal
gains when grazed.
Seed of Palaton will be available
in limited quantities for 1985 spring
seeding and should be readily
available by 1986. Seed of Venture
should be coming along soon.
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Tall Fescue
Tall fescue is another grass that
has reaped the scorn of many
grazers. Yet here again is a grass
with considerable potential. Like
Reed canarygrass, tall fescue is a
high yielding, sod-forming grass
well adapted to a wide range of soil
and climatic conditions. And while
it is known to provide good pasture
in early spring and autumn, and is
excellent as stockpiled fall feed,
tall fescue pasture has also been
shown to be ot very poor quality
during the summer months,
resulting in poor animal per
formance from cattle grazing this
grass.
Scientists have recently
recognized the presence of a
fungus, or endophyte, growing
within tall fescue plants that may
be at least partially responsible for
the so called “summer syndrome”
associated with this grass. They
also established that current tall
fescue varieties, like those of Reed
canarygrass, contain alkaloids
which also appear to be related to
the summer syndrone condition.
A new low alkaloid, low en
dophyte variety, Johnstone,
recently released by University of
Kentucky scientists, and expected
to be commercially available soon,
showed a breakthrough in the
improvement of this important
grass. Other varieties and other
approaches to solving this summer
slump problem appears close at
hand.
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