• • • Cover crop effect on Festulolium for seed production
Novel crop, Festulolium, is a hybrid of Festucа spp. and Lolium spp. Hybrids combine traits of both parents. Different varieties resemble morphologically either ryegrass or fescue. Compared to original parental forms — meadow and tall fescues and perennial and Australian ryegrasses — festulolium hybrids show new biological and economically important traits, requiring development of specific technique for seed production. Analyses revealed competive reaction of ryegrass morphotype “VIK-90”and fescue morphotype “Izumrudnyy” on cover crop action. Variety “VIK-90” had high resistance to medium shadowing by cover crop, being able to compensate underdevelopment after the latter harvesting, due to intensive tillering. Best cover crops for “VIK-90” were vetch-oats mixture for green fodder at 1:3 ratio and barley or oats for grain production. Seeding rate of these cover crops, reduced by 30%, resulted in statistically significant “VIK-90” seed yield of 1022–1088 kg ha-1, equal to coverless sowing. “Izumrudnyy” was highly sensitive to suppressive action of cover crops, leading to sward structure degradation next year and yield reduction by 24–49%, compared to coverless sowing. The most effective method for seed sward cultivation of “Izumrudnyy” was sowing without cover crops.
Source: https://kormoproizvodstvo.ru/en/10-2017-2/, p. 37
