Certified Ryegrass Try-Out Under South Island Conditions

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18366, 7 April 1934, Page 13

Certified Ryegrass Try-Out Under South Island Conditions

POVERTY Bay and llawke’s Bay j * types of perennial ryegrass seed tried out in the South Island are made _ the subject of an informative article . in the last domnal of Agriculture ' under the name of Mr. E. Bruce , Levy, agrostologist, Plant Research Station, Palmerston North. , The first certified perennial ryegrass j seed was sown in the South Island id ( IP2P, and since then there tins been .n steady increase in the area, about 10,00(1 acres now having been sown , under certification and a like acreage for ordinary grazing purposes. lT;wticaliy all stock mother seed lor I Ins purpose was obtained from Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay. , “Taking Canterbury, North Otago and the moister parts of Central Otago as a whole,” the article stated, ‘‘there is ample evidence to convince ! the writer that certified ryegrass as a I major component part, in a mixtuie is a splendid thing 'wherever pastures over two years old are in demand. It j will increase the carrying capacity j' from .10 per cent, up to 50 per cent, at a very moderate estimate, and will enable the farmer to draw up his croppasture rotation with much more confidence than he has been able to do previously because of the unreliable nature of the commercial ryegrass | seed that lies been available for his j use in the past. As a seed crop, it j offers to these districts a profitable and secure industry. ... South Otago and Southland. “It is probably a sound prophecy; that certified perennial ryegrass, and certified white clover, when supplies of , the latter become more readily avail- j aide, will mean more to Southland : and the wetter portions of Otago than ; to any other district in the South : Island.' The opportunity for the do- j velopment ot first-class high-producing., permanent, pastures in Southland par- j , ticularly are enormous. ... I’ “The use of certified perennial rye grass has received in its initial intro- j duetion a serious setback In Southland j lowing largely to the tact that tliisj I strain produces a seed crop ot low | germination capacity when grown for! seed in a humid or wet climate. • • ■ | 'The experience in Southland with three ; harvests of certified ryegrass gives; little encouragement for the future ot ; ■Southland as a seed-producing area as j i far as the true perennial ryegrass is ! concerned, whether this be the ccrtit fieri type or a good type of perennial ; ryegrass of Southland origin, j “It, is fairly common knowledge in : the seed trade in Southland tiiat old ! pasture Southland seed does not germinate on the whole as well as does j | the general run of maiden seed, the j vast majority of which is of a bad j 'false perennial type. There is, of j course, a possibility that strains of j true perennial ryegrass may be pro-j ; duced by selection and breeding tliar j ! are resistant to fungal growth; but until work along these lines lias progressed further, it is obviously too risky in a wet. climate like Southland to recommend large-scale seed production for true perennial ryegrass. . . . In 20 or 30 Years? “There is in Southland to-day a rather prevalent opinion that the germination capacity of certified ryegrass will improve just as soon as the strain becomes acclimatised to Southland conditions. It seems that the certified ryegrass now being sown in Southland will adapt itself in 20 to 30 years to the climatic and soil conditions of Southland, but I. am also of the opinion that when this does take place the strain ns a grazing proposition will j not be so useful to Southland ns will

the direct importations from such districts as Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay. “There is no 1 question that, the climatic conditions in Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay permit a longer seasonal growth in a species or strain than will those of Southland, and it would appear from a study of world types that there is bred into a strain when grown under a climatic and soil condition that permits of a long seasonal growth, a long-seasoned growth o.liaraeteristie, which characteristic the plant endeavors to reproduce even wlii'ii placed under somewhat more severe climatic conditions. There is some evidence in Southland, lor example, to show that the certified strain of ryegrass is earlier to start growth in the spring and is later to cease growth in the autumn than the present accliiualised strain ol perennial ryegrass of Southland itsell.” Not Excelled. Summing up, the writer states: “Certified perennial ryegrass in the South Island is behaving relative to treatment. In the drier areas of Canterbury and Otago success or failure of certified ryegrass depends on stock concentration after the first year down. Where one-year stubble crops have been well cleaned up, where I topdressing lias been applied, where j in-brought foodstuffs have been fed out, and whore the threshed straw has been consumed on the area, the sward is healthy and vigorous and the strain everywhere persistent. Where there has been little or no stocking of the stubble aftermath the growth is scanty, yellow and stunted, and distinctly unpalatable. “Certified perennial ryegrass in Now Zealand at least is not excelled by any other perennial ryegrass, and, if it does not thrive, the fault lies not with the grass, but with its treatment, or with the soil-type on which it is grown. It can be said safely that the farmer may regard certified ryegrass as a means'test of his soil type and his grassland farming capabalities—the better the soil conditions, the better the management and the higher the stocking, the better the certified ryegrass grows.” *