Origin and Yield of European Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) Varieties in Ireland

Abstract

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have sown 63 Intermediate and Late heading perennial ryegrass varieties in combined National List/Recommended List evaluation trials at five locations in Ireland each year from 2004 to 2008. Breeder’s seed of candidate and commercial varieties originating from breeding companies in eight European countries were included. Each sowing year/experiment was harvested for two successive years under a six cut ‘general purpose’ protocol. Annual total yields of dry matter per hectare were sorted by origin of germplasm and averaged for each country. Intermediate varieties had an average yield of 14.8 T DM/ha, 0.3–0.4 T DM/ha greater than Late varieties (14.5 T DM/ha) from all sources except Belgium. Intermediate varieties from Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK were 0.4 T DM/ha higher than varieties from France and the Netherlands, while in the Late category varieties from Germany, Ireland and the UK had an average yield of at least 0.5 T DM/ha greater than varieties from Denmark, France and the Netherlands.