Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass plant

Scientific name

Lolium perenne (Table 1)Lolium x boucheanum Kunth (Table 2) - Refer Hybrid ryegrass fact sheet for details re description etc.

Strengths

Easily established, highly productive and nutritious under grazing, moderate winter and summer growth, rapid regrowth from cutting/grazing; regenerate well from self-sown seed if allowed to seed.

Limitations

Requires moderate to high soil fertility. Does not withstand heavy grazing pressure through drought. Susceptible to cockchafer and cricket damage.

Plant description

Plant:

Densely tufted, multi-tillered perennial with fibrous root system.

Stems:

30-90 cm

Leaves:

Fine (~7 mm), dark green, hairless, under surface shiny, blade folded about mid-rib in young shoot, leaf-base usually dark red.

Seedhead:

Spike ~20 cm, spikelet usually <10 florets/spikelet; awnless lemma.

Seeds:

Fawn, flat, awnless, ~6mm long. Approx. ~520,000/kg (diploid cvv) or ~350,000/kg (tetraploid cvv).

Tetraploid cvv.:

These have double the number of chromosomes, larger cells, leaves and seed. Compatability with clover maybe enhanced.

Pasture type and use

Grazing and fodder conservation. Most widely sown pasture grass in temperate regions.

Where it grows

Rainfall

> 650 mm; >500 mm re South coast WA.

Soils

Medium-heavy texture, moderate-high fertility (eg Olsen P >12, 0-10 cm). Tolerates slight salinity.

Temperature

Cold and frost tolerant, growth constrained by high temperature, mild summer desirable.

Establishment

Companion species

Grasses: Phalaris, cocksfoot Legumes: white clover and sub clover.

Sowing/planting rates as single species

7-20 kg/ha

Sowing/planting rates in mixtures

3-10 kg/ha

Sowing time

Autumn and spring.

Inoculation

Not applicable.

Fertiliser

P & possibly N at sowing.

Management

Maintenance fertliser

Perennial ryegrass requires fertile soil to persist. ~10 kg P/ha. Monitor S, K, Cu especially. Supply N by clover/fertiliser. Maintain Colwell P ~30 (WA), Olsen P >12.

Grazing/cutting

Tolerates close, continuous grazing - except if drought-stressed. Graze at 3-leaf stage to optimise yield under rotational grazing. Well suited to hay/silage.

Seed production

Prolific seeder; commercial yields up to 2 t/ha.

Ability to spread

Will spread on fertile soil if allowed to seed.

Weed potential

Widely naturalised on fertile soils in temperate Australia.

Major pests

Red and black-headed cockchafer, black field cricket, white-fringed weevil, African black beetle, corbies, underground grass caterpillar.

Major diseases

Crown rust, stem rust, barley yellow dwarf virus, ryegrass mosaic virus.

Herbicide susceptibility

A wide range of weeds may be encountered. In selecting selective herbicides consider the stage of growth of the ryegrass and what non-target companion species are present. For detailed information consult local weed agronomists or visit NSW DPI - Weed control in Lucerne and Pastures 2007.

Animal production

Feeding value

High nutritive value.

Palatability

Palatable.

Production potential

High yields; highly responsive to fertiliser and irrigation.

Livestock disorders/toxicity

Cultivars with wild endophyte can cause perennial ryegrass toxicosis and ill-thrift. Bacterial infection of seedhead can occasionally occur and result in ergot poisoning.

Cultivars

Table 1 - Perennial ryegrass cultivars.

Flowering group2	Cultivar	Origin of germplasm	Endophyte options	Seed Source/Information
Very early	Boomer	NSW	Low3	Valley Seeds
	Skippy	NSW	Wild	VicSeeds
Early	Everlast	NSW	Wild	Seed Distributors
	Fitzroy	NSW	Wild	Wrightson Seeds
	Meridian	NZ x NSW	AR1	Heritage Seeds
	Roper	NSW	Low	Valley Seeds
Early-Mid	Bolton	Victoria	Wild	VicSeeds
	Drylander	Victoria	Wild	Seed Distributors
	Victorian	Victoria	Wild	Australian Herbage Plant CultivarsVicSeeds
Mid	AusVic	Victoria	Low	VicSeeds
	Bronsyn	NZ	AR1	Specialty Seeds
	Camel	Mediterranean	Low	Valley Seeds
	Ceres Cannon	NZ	Wild/Low	PGG Seeds
	Ceres Kingston	NZ	Wild/Low	PGG Seeds
	Extreme	NZ	AR6/AR1/AR37	AusWest Seeds
	Grasslands Commando	NZ	Wild/AR1/AR37	PGG Seeds
	Grasslands Lincoln	NZ x Spanish x Italian	Wild/Low	Wrightson Seeds
	Grasslands Nui	NZ	Wild	Australian Herbage Plant CultivarsSpecialty Seeds
	LM9928C		Low	Valley Seeds
	Prolong	NZ x NSW	Low	Valley Seeds
	Rich			Specialty Seeds
	Tomson	NZ	Wild	Seed Distributors
Mid - Late	Arrow	NZ	AR1	Heritage Seeds
	Avalon	Victoria	Wild	Australian Herbage Plant CultivarsVicSeeds
	Grasslands Samson	NZ	Wild/AR1/AR37	PGG Seeds
	Jackaroo	Tasmania	Wild	Wrightson Seeds
	Victoca	Victoria	Wild	TasGlobal Seeds
	Wintas	Spanish	Wild	TasGlobal Seeds
Late	Aberdart	Europe	AR1	Specialty Seeds
	Alto	NZ	AR1	Pasture species database - University of Melbourne Heritage Seeds
	one-50	NZ x Spanish	Wild/AR1	PGG Seeds
	Optima (4n)	Denmark	Low	Seed Distributors
	Sierra (4n)	Spanish	Low	Pasture species database - University of Melbourne
Very Late	Bealey(4n)	NZ	Advanced	Pasture species database - University of Melbourne Heritage Seeds
	Grazmore (4n)	NZ	Low	-
	Quartet(4n)	NZ	Wild/AR1	Wrightson Seeds

Table 2. Relatively persistent/”long rotation” hybrid ryegrass cultivars.

Flowering group	Cultivar	Origin of germplasm	Endophyte options	Seed source/Information
Medium	G5. Ohau 4 (4n)	NZ	AR1/Low3	PGG Wrightson
	Horizon (4n)	NZ	Wild	PGG Seeds
Late	G. Supreme	NZ	Low	AusWest Seeds
	G. SupremePLUS	NZ	AR1/Low	PGG Seeds
	G. Impact	NZ x Spanish	AR1	Heritage Seeds
	G. Sterling (4n)	NZ	Wild/AR1	PGG Seeds
	Blitz (4n)	?	Not given	Specialty Seeds
	Banquet (4n)	NZ x Spanish	Wild	Wrightson Seeds
	Banquet II (4n)	NZ x Spanish	AR5	Wrightson Seeds
	Matrix5	?	Wild/Low	Cropmark Seeds NZ
	Revolution5	?	AR1	Cropmark Seeds NZ

Author and date

KFM Reed

7th August 2008