Questions & Answers about PLUS grasses
Have you ever wondered about the nature of festulolium and how you can benefit from its potential? Worry not. This Q&A explains how PLUS-grasses improve forage production. Festulolium boosts meat and milk production through superior forage performance. Our festulolium varieties combine the best genetics of ryegrass and fescue species to create a distinctive species of high-performance grasses. These genetic enhancements make your grassland production more efficient and resilient. They cut your costs and improve your environmental sustainability. Festuloliums from DLF add a bit more to your farm - we call them PLUS grasses.
Festulolium is a forage grass created by crossing Festuca (fescue) and Lolium (ryegrass) species. It combines the desirable characteristics of the two parent species, such as improved yield, disease resistance, and adaptability to various growing conditions. In creating festulolium, we wanted to develop a forage grass with the positive traits – improved productivity and resilience – of both parental species.
Farmers can use festuloliums as silage or forage crops for livestock grazing. They are popular in areas where the combination of fescue and ryegrass traits improves agricultural performance. The characteristics of individual festulolium varieties varies according to the amounts of the two parent species used in the cross-breeding process.
Festuloliums offer numerous benefits. Some have the high forage quality, fast establishment, and yield of Italian ryegrass; others show the persistance, execellent stress-tolerance, and high disease-resistance of tall fescues. The key benefits are:
Increasing yield
Festulolium is known for its improved forage performance, which produces higher yields than traditional forage grasses. It produces higher feed production for your livestock.
Genetic advantages
By blending the benetic traits of ryegrass and fescue species, festulolium inherits desireable characteristics from both parents - charateristics such as improved disease-resistance, geographic and climatic adaptability, and overall robustness.
Efficiency and lower cost
The genetic upgrate in festulolium contributes to more efficient grassland production. This efficiency translates into cost savings and increased productivity for farmers. With improved forage performance and potentially higher yields, farmers enjoy lower feed-production costs, which has a positive impact on farm finances.
Environmental sustainability
The genetic traits of festulolium can support sustainable agriculture practices. You could end up using less fertiliser and pesticides, while festulolium's adaptability to tough conditions can reduce the environmental impact of your farm.
Versatility
Festulolium adapts well to various climates and soil types. It's a versatile forage option that thrives in a wide of agriculture settings.
PLUS-grasses are a simple way to categorise festulolium varieties based on their genetic inheritance and morphological appearance.
The two categories – Tall fescue PLUS and Ryegrass PLUS – should be compared tto their parent material, not to each other. Within each category you find a range of highly successful crosses between fescues and ryegrasses; all perform substantially better than their parental material.
There are two types of PLUS-grasses. Sow Ryegrass PLUS varieties instead of Italian, perennial, and hybrid ryegrasses; and sow Tall fescue PLUS varieties instead of tall fescue.
Lodging is the tendency of a plant stem to bend or break, so that the plant no longer stands upright. Since alfalfa is usually grown for cutting rather than grazing, it needs to remain upright – to be resistant to lodging. In real life, anything from bad weather to equipment breakdown can delay cutting beyond the optimal harvest date. That’s when the lodging resistance of an alfalfa variety helps maintain yield and quality.
Ryegrass PLUS varieties
Exibit ryegrass qualities such as:
- Rapid establishment
- Excelent spring growth
- High digestibility
- Sugar content
- Eminent palatability
Tall fescue PLUS varieties
Exibit tall fescue qualities such as:
- High dry-matter yield
- Resistance to cold
- Drought-tolerance
- Long-lasting persistency
- Outstanding salt-tolerance
The answer depends on which grasses you compare them to. In general, PLUS-grasses produce a higher dry-matter yield than either perennial ryegrass or fescues. They also start producing earlier in the season for an earlier first cut.
The growth pattern is similar to that of the parental material.
Ryegrass PLUS has a very early and a high spring production. You can find PLUS grass varieties with early heading, intermediate heading, and late heading. Tall fescue PLUS has a slower spring start, but produces more during summer and autumn. Its growth pattern is similar to fescues.
Yes, you can mix PLUS-grasses with other grass species as part of a forage mix.
Mixing different grass species lets you create forage mixtures that are ideally suited to the weather and soil of your farm. A blend of PLUS-grasses and other grasses or legumes could, for example, give you a more diverse and resilient forage mixture.
Yes, PLUS-grasses establish so vigorously, you can sow them to strengthen thin pastures and hay fields. Ryegrass PLUS is exceptionally good for overseeding because it’s so competitive. It reinvigorates winter-damaged swards to improve dry-matter yield and digestibility. Tall fescue PLUS is less competitive in already established swards.
In pure stands: 25 kg to 40 kg/hectare
In mixed stands: 15 kg to 25 kg/hectare
The more you cut, the higher the quality. Cutting up to six times, with about 25 days between each cut, gives you the highest and finest forage quality you’ll ever need.
For maximum persistency in a Ryegrass PLUS sward, cut to between 7 cm and 8 cm – exactly as recommended for many other grasses. If you cut below 7 cm, you lose out on Ryegrass PLUS’s ability to regenerate fast enough to give you a high yield.
Avoid cutting too late in the year. Your last cut must allow enough time for the sward to achieve a height of 10 cm to 15 cm medio/ultimo October before winter sets in.
The answer depends on which variety of Ryegrass PLUS you choose. The following are general estimates. If Ryegrass PLUS accounts for 40% to 50% of your grass-seed mixture, you can expect to gather up to 60% of your total annual yield in the first and second cuts.
Yes, when tested in official trials, Tall fescue PLUS exhibited an excellent high persistency for years.
Yes, the digestibility of Tall fescue PLUS is higher than that of tall fescue. The ryegrass genetic component of Tall fescue PLUS increases the digestibility of your sward.
Yes, the ryegrass genes provide for much faster establishment. The speed with which Tall fescue PLUS covers the ground leaves no space for weed.
Yes, Tall fescue PLUS grows faster than tall fescue. It doesn’t take long to produce a dense sward with a deep rooting system and no stem formation during summer. You will occasionally find stems in the first cut, but no more than you would find in tall fescue.