Grasslands Kara cocksfoot: a productive cultivar under lax grazing

Abstract

<jats:p>Field testing compared the agronomic performance of Grasslands Kara cocksfoot (Dactylis glomera&amp; a L.) with other commercially available cocksfoot cultivars and perennial ryegrass (Ldium perenne L.) in Southland and Canterbury. Animal performance was also assessed in southland. Kara cocksfoot had the highest establishment score of the cocksfoot cultivars in Canterbury but was slower to establish than ryegrass. Annual yields of Kara cocksfoot were 7% lower than Wana in Southland. The yield of Kara in Canterbury was 131 and 74% greater than ryegrass in a dry summer and autumn respectively. In Southland the pasture production from Kara under goat grazing was never significantly different from that of Nui ryegrass. The liveweight gains of both sheep and goats on Kara pastures were similar to those on ryegrass. Pasture digestibility was lower for Kara than Nui ryegrass pastures in spring but similar in summer and autumn. Pasture protein content was higher for Kara than Nui pastures in spring and similar in summer and autumn. The leaf-stem ratio of Kara was higher than Nui in spring but similar in summer and autumn. Rust tolerance of Kara was high and similar to Wana and Porto. The results from animal performance and pasture parameters show that Kara has a high feeding value. The effects of winter frost damage were greater on Kara and Wana than on Apanui due to their winter activity. Keywords animal performance, Dactylis glomerata L., cocksfoot, establishment, frost damage, pasture production, pasture quality</jats:p>

Cocksfoot pasture production in relation to environmental variables

“…This confirms previous work which showed N, rather than water, was the factor most limiting cocksfoot production (Peri et al 2002a). When no irrigation or N were applied, yields were only 25% of the environmental potential and similar to previous results (Stevens et al 1992). In addition, N was the main factor influencing pasture quality parameters (Table 1).…”

“…It is recommended for low to moderate fertility, summer dry regions (Rumball 1982;Baker et al 1985) and its ability to produce, survive and persist when subjected to drought (Stevens et al 1992) makes it an important component in most dryland pastures. Annual DM yields of cocksfoot in Canterbury range from ~7 to >28 t DM/ ha (Stevens et al 1992;Peri et al 2002a). The lower value represents a typical yield under grazed dryland conditions and the upper extreme was the environmental maximum when neither water nor nitrogen limited pasture growth.…”

Effects of binary seed mixtures of ryegrass, cocksfoot and tall fescue on pasture production

“…Cocksfoot was compatible with tall fescue and with ryegrass at low seeding rates. The overall performance of cocksfoot was, however, lower than either tall fescue or ryegrass, which was similar to that found by other researchers in the Otago-Southland region (Harris et al 1973;Stevens et al 1992). In mixtures with tall fescue, the addition of cocksfoot increased sown grass yields.…”

“…Extra seasonal production was expected when mixing grass species that had different seasonal yields. For example cocksfoot yields in summer and autumn can be greater than ryegrass in dry conditions (Stevens et al 1992). This was not realised and may be caused by the competition at other times of the year.…”

Forage yield of orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) under different fertility levels on a karewa upland of Kashmir Himalaya

“…In Canterbury, reported cocksfoot annual yields range from 7.5 t DM/ha to 28.6 t DM/ha. The lower yield (Stevens et al, 1992) [20] indicates an average year with no N and dry land conditions whereas the high yield (Peri et al, 2002a) [21] was produced under non-limiting water and N conditions. Dry land cocksfoot pastures supplied with adequate N produced 80% more yield annually than pastures supplied with irrigation alone (Peri et al, 2002b) [22] .…”