Re-establishment and Regrowth of Self-Seeded Italian Ryegrass. (5636)
Authors:
P.W. Bartholomew* - USDA-ARS, Langston, OK R.D. Williams - USDA-ARS, Langston, OK
Abstract:
Self-reseeding may offer a low-input method of regenerating Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) for cool-season forage production in the Southern Great Plains, but management practices that enable this are not well defined. In its first production year, Italian ryegrass was subjected to initial-harvest treatments in mid-April, early-May or mid-May and to three levels of forage offtake, 100, 76 or 53% of standing crop, at each harvest. Following initial harvest, plots were allowed to regrow and set seed, prior to a second harvest in July. The crop re-established in early fall and forage production was measured under a uniform clipping regime during the following cool-season. Total forage yield of the re-established crop was greater on plots harvested in mid-April and early May (2310 kg ha-1) than on plots harvested in mid-May (1810 kg ha-1) of the first production year. At the end of the second growing season the number of mature seed-bearing tillers produced (mean of 110 tillers m-2) did not differ significantly among first-year harvest and offtake treatments. Management during the first production year affected re-establishment and forage output of Italian ryegrass in the following cropping season, but did not appear to influence the potential for reseeding at the end of the second year.
Speaker Information: Paul Bartholomew, USDA-ARS, Langston, OK, USDA-ARS Research & Extension Bldg Langston University, Langston, OK 73050; Phone: 405 466 3836; E-mail: [email protected]
Session Information: Monday, November 1, 2004, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM Presentation Start: 2:00 PM (Poster Board Number: 1344)
Keywords: Cool-season grass; Re-establishment; Forage production; Ryegrass
