RESEEDING IN THE FALKLAND-ISLANDS - HERBAGE PRODUCTION OF A RANGE OF GRASS SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

The productivity of 20 cultivars from a range of 13 grass species was compared by harvesting four times during each of three successive growing seasons. In the experiment, 120 kg N ha-1, 42 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 42 kg K2O ha-1 were applied annually. Mean annual yield was 3229 kg DM ha-1 and 2147 kg DOM ha-1. Cultivars were arranged in seven groups for comparison. Three of the groups, Lolium, Phleum and 'others' (the latter consisted of Festuca arundinacea cv. Dovey and Poa pratensis cv. Bensun A.34) appeared significantly lower yielding than the Dactylis, Festuca (fine-leaved), Agrostis and Holcus groups. In the Lolium group, cv. Gremie outyielded cv. Melle every year. No cultivar of Dactylis was significantly better than any other in its group. Phleum cvs Motim and Eskimo were similar and superior to cv. S.50. Festuca ovina cv. Novina and Agrostis canina cv. Kingstown were marginally the best in their respective groups. The two cultivars of Holcus performed virtually identically. Festuca arundinacea cv. Dovey was a good producer of early spring grass. Poa pratensis cv. Bensun A.34 was generally low yielding and subject to fungal rust attack in autumn. The pattern of seasonal DM production was 16% in early spring (cut in October/November), 39% in mid-season (cut in December), 40% in late summer (cut in February/March) and 5% in autumn (cut in April/May). Quality of the herbage was superior to the main indigenous grass Cortaderia pilosa. It was concluded that although the experiment was conducted under a cutting regime it provided useful guidance for seeds mixture formulation and stock carrying capacity calculations.