Rye Grass Ag Education II Rye Grass What do you know about rye grass? How many kinds of rye grass are there? Where is it grown? Why is rye grass important?

Rye Grass

Ag Education II

Rye Grass

• What do you know about rye grass?

• How many kinds of rye grass are there?

• Where is it grown?

• Why is rye grass important?

Where did Ryegrass come from?

• Ryegrasses were brought to the USA from Europe and are now planted and grown throughout the country.

• Scientific name- Lolium multiflorum

• Other names- Italian Ryegrass, Australian

Plant Characteristics

• Growth Type- bunch• Texture- Coarse• Density- Medium to poor• Color- light green

Uses for Ryegrass

• Uses• 1. Grain 30-40%• 2. Hay• 3. Pasture• 4. Cover Crop

• Grain Uses• 1. Flour• 2. Alcohol• 3. Seed• 4. Livestock Feed

More Uses

• Temporary cover

• Nurse grass

• Pasture

• Silage and Green chop

• Erosion Control

• Wildlife cover feed

Diseases • Less subject to disease due to its hardiness

• Ergot is most common disease

• Ergot- A kernel is replaced with black or purple fungus called sclerotia

• Leaf spot, barley yellow dwarf virus

• No insect problems are unique to annual ryegrass. Grass grub is an important pest of ryegrass.

• In the Southeastern pets ryegrass seedlings are attacked by mole crickets and fall armyworms

Reproduction• Life cycle- Annual or short lived

(perennial)

• Propagation- seed

Adaptation

• Sun/ Shade- sun to moderate shade

• Soil- medium to heavy

• Moisture- medium to wet

• Good with irrigated farming on well-drained land

Adaptation

• Annual ryegrass is best adapted to cool, moist climates

• In the milder regions of its adaptation zone, annual ryegrass can survive for several years. In the more extreme environments, it behaves as an annual.

• Annual ryegrass grows best on fertile, well-drained soils, but has a wide range of soil adaptability

Conditions for Growing• Annual ryegrass grows best on fertile, well-

drained soils, but has a wide range of soil adaptability.

• Annual ryegrass is tolerant of long periods of continuous flooding—15 to 20 days when temperatures are below 81°F (27°C).

Special Problems

• Annual--- Difficult to cut

• Can become weedy

Perennial Vs. Annual

• Perennial requires a dormancy period of cool temperatures before it flowers--they also flower in late spring

• Annual can be grown in more places than Perennial ryegrass.

Where Ryegrass is grown in the U.S.

Facts

• There are nearly 3 million acres of annual ryegrass in the United States, with about 90 percent used for winter pasture in the southeast.

• Annual ryegrass produces some of the highest quality pasture that can be grown in the southeastern United States.

Advantages- Disadvantages

• Advantages-

• very good quality possible

• easy to establish

• rapid growth rate

• Disadvantages-

• poor drought and heat tolerance

• not well suited to poorly drained soils

Yield (based on 2 harvest seasons)

• Seeds/ pound: 227,000

• Seeding rate: 15-20 pounds per acre

• Seeding date: early spring

• May survive winter with alfalfa if consistent snow cover