Carlow, Ireland
November 10, 2009

On-going research at the Teagasc animal production and grassland research centre is working towards developing an economic index for ranking grass varieties.

This index which will allow traits such as dry-matter yield, quality and persistency to be assessed and valued in euro and allow varieties to be ranked on total economic merit, will be available at the end of 2009.

Trials at Moorepark have already found that management systems have an effect on the performance of different grass varieties. Differences arise depending on how they are assessed.

Some varieties emerged on the top of the list when assed using a ten-cut system, which simulated a grazing system, while others emerged on top when assessed using a two-cut silage system or a three-cut silage system.

For example, the grass varieties Bealey and Tyrella were ranked one and two, respectively, in the ten-cut system; but were eight and twelfth on the list when assessed using a three-cut silage system, which indicates that these two varieties are more suitable for grazing systems of production.
 

Website: http://www.teagasc.ie

Published: November 10, 2009