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