Dairy Event 2011: New Forage
A new range of grass and maize varieties was launched at this year’s Dairy Event and Livestock Show by British Seed Houses.
Entering the 2012 Descriptive List, the high-yielding early forage maize variety Troizi has shown 105% dry matter yield in official trials – equating to 19.6t/ha dry matter yield at 11.3 MJ/kg ME.
In addition, the first Festulolium forage grass variety to enter the NIAB Recommended Lists is Italian-type ryegrass x meadow fescue variety AberNiche.
Dr Mike Humphreys of IBERS Aberystwyth University, who helped breed the variety, said: “Increased drought tolerance is a major objective and we have already recorded an improvement in water-use efficiency in some Festulolium of 88%.
“In addition to Italian ryegrass x fescue hybrids, we are also working towards introduction of the beneficial fescue genes into perennial ryegrasses.”
While, the new Aber High Sugar Grass AberGreen has entered the latest NIAB Herbage Varieties Guide, with a grazing yield at 108% of the mean of all perennial ryegrasses on the general list.
For more information on the new varieties, see www.britishseedhouses.com
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