Forage grass productivity and quality in south-western part of Pannonian basin

Abstract

The aim of the research was to compare the productivity and quality of several forage grasses in the climate conditions of southeastern Europe. The research was conducted during 2012 and 2013, in the southwestern part of the Pannonian basin (vicinity of Osijek, Croatia). The experiment included 5 grass species: Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), hybrid ryegrass (Lolium x boucheanum), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and timothy (Phleum pratense) cut three times per year, i.e. 6 cuttings in total for two years. The results have shown that there were significant statistical differences for all investigated traits between the years of the species and their interaction at the P˂0.05 levels. In average, the highest dry matter yield was achieved during the first year of usage (10.4 and 9.1 t/ha). The average usage of two years, the highest yields of dry matter had Italian ryegrass and cocksfoot. Quality results showed that the cocksfoot was the least digestible because it contained over 700 g/kg of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 450 g/kg of acid detergent fiber (ADF), unlike the perennial ryegrass which had 559 and 327 g/kg of NDF and ADF. Energetically most productive was Italian ryegrass with a production potential of 19,739 liters of milk and with milk fat of 4%. On the protein productivity base, the most prominent was the cocksfoot which could produce 11,878 liters of milk from 713 kg proteins in one year. The results show that none of the tested grasses had a balanced relationship between protein and energy.

Seed Quality of Perennial Grasses and Forage Legumes in Relation to Dormancy, Storage, Presence of Pathogens and Possible Improvements

“…In one of the most important forage legume -alfalfa the share of hard seeds after harvest is 23.3% [56]. After two years of storage, part of hard seeds decreased to 2.9%, and after 4 and 8 years of storage, hard seed is not registered.…”

“…Total seed germination after two years of storage was 85.8%, after four year was 73.7%, and after the eighth year germination was 42.8%. Cultivars have behaved variably according to the contents of the hard and germinated seed in relation to the length of storage [56]. Effect of long-term natural aging on germinability and biochemical characteristics in two different clover (Trifolium repens and Trifolium pratense) showed that only two types of the old seeds showed a discernible increase in peroxidase activity during the germination of the legume seeds, but catalase activity dropped [57].…”

Quality of alfalfa seeds from different regions of Serbia during storage up to 42 months

“…In alfalfa seeds, physical dormancy is present and still expressed in different climatic zones (Čupić et al, 2005;Zimmermann et al, 1998;Fairey and Lefkovitch 1991). According to Harrison et al, (2021), Xie et al, (2023), alfalfa seeds are characterized by a strong seed coat that does not allow the absorption of water and gases.…”