Objective:

To test for yield and quality of selected cool and warm-season forage grasses.

Personnel:

J.A. Torrion, Eeusha Nafi, Daniel Porter                                                                                                                

Summary:

The cool-season forage species were planted April 22nd, 2020 and the warm-season teff and crabgrass were replanted May 28th, 2021. Sixteen forage species were studied in this trial.

There were two harvest cuts this year, except for the crabgrass. The total yield for 2021 ranged from 0.8 ton/A (crabgrass) to 6.4 ton/A (dryland mix 2). Dryland mix_1, dryland mix_2, tall fescue, meadow brome, and smooth brome performed well in this trial and had statistically similar forage yields. The warm season grass teff and crabgrass had lower yields compared with the cool-season 2nd year of establishment (Table 2). Crabgrass had the least forage yield, being the shortest among the species. The averaged forage quality data for all the cuts this year are also shown in Table 2. 

Table 1. Management Information
Seeding date: 4/22/2020 Field Location: P2                                                                                                         
Julian date: 113 Harvest date: See below
Seeding rate: Variety-dependent Julian date: See below
Previous crop: Winter wheat Soil type: Creston Silt Loam
Herbicide: 2,4-D (Shredder 7/10/2020) (Cleaver 6B 10/8/21- post harvest) Tillage: Conventional
Insecticide: None Soil residual nutrient: (NO3-, P, K lb/A): 122-20-376 (Fall, 2019)
Fungicide: None Nutrient fertilizer applied: ( N, P2O5, K20 lb/A): 84-10-35-10(S) (spring, 2020) 50 lbs N [Spring, 2021]

The harvest dates are detailed below:

6/2 (Arsenal, Artillery, Barricade Raw, Barricade w/Yellow Jacket, Ammo, Armory, HDR)

6/4 (Milkway)

6/8 (HLR, Driftless)

6/16 (Moxie)

6/17 (Hamann, STF-43)

6/18 (Remington, Remington NEA2)

7/29 (2nd cut Moxie)

9/10 (1st cut mojo, 2nd cut for the rest of the entries)

Table 2. Second year (2021) total dry biomass yields and average forage qualities
Brand Variety Cuts Forage YLD (t/A) CP*                                    RFV*                                   RFQ*                                   Lignin* Fat*                      NFC*                        WSC*                   
        (%)     (%) (%) (%) (%)
  Cool-season
Barricade w/Yellow Jacket Dryland mix_2 2 6.4 11.4  92.8 124.1 3.6 3.3 18.3 9.0
STF-43 Tall fescue 2 6.3 11.4 96.5 116.6 3.8 3.5 18.2 8.9
Arsenal Meadow brome 2 6.2 10.7 87.3 117.6 3.7 3.6 18.8 7.7
Barricade raw Dryland mix_1 2 5.7 10.8 92.6 118.6 3.6 3.5 19.0 8.6
Artillery Smooth brome 2 5.6 11.0 97.6 124.3 3.8 4.3 22.5 8.8
Ammo Dryland orchardgrass 2 4.8 8.7 91.0 116.1 3.5 4.2 20.3 8.7
Hamann Creeping wheatgrass 2 4.8 10.3 95.3 114.0 4.8 4.7 20.9 9.0 
Armory Dryland tall fescue 2 4.7 11.9 104.6 132.1 3.3 3.2 21.9 11.4
Driftless Meadow fescue_1 2 4.7 9.7 90.3 117.1 3.5 4.1 19.3 6.5
HLR Orchardgrass 2 4.7 8.4 86.8 103.3 4.1 4.1 18.4 7.2
HDR Meadow fescue_2 2 4.3 10.3 102.5 137.8 2.7 3.9 24.0 10.0
Remington Perennial ryegrass_1 2 4.3 9.8 103.5 138.8 3.0 3.4 24.6 12.1
Remington NEA2 Perennial ryegrass_2 2 4.2 11.3 101.6 135 3.5 3.3 22.1 10.2
Milkway Tall fescue/meadow fescue mix 2 4.0 11.6 98.8 129.8 3.0 3.6 20.1 9.5
  Warm-season
Moxie w/ Yellow Jacket Teffgrass 2 2.5 9.6 103.1 150.8 3.8 2.4 27.6 10.8
Mojo w/Yellow Jacket Crabgrass 1 0.8 12.3 123.0 147.3 3.1 3.4 27.6 11.8
Mean     4.7 10.6 98.0 126.5 3.6 3.7 21.5 9.4
CV     16.4 12.8 3.6 7.1 8.4 9.1 5.7 9.4
LSD     1.3 2.3 5.9 15.0 0.5 0.6 2.0 1.5
PR>F     < 0.001 0.05 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001
CP = crude protein, RFV = relative feed value, RFQ = relative forage quality, NFC = non-fibrous carbohydrate, WSC = water-soluble carbohydrate, YLD = yield * Average of two cuttings except crabgrass