Selection of english ryegras variety for grazing use (Lolium perenne L.)

In 1997 the field trial was set up in two locations, one at Ljubljana and the other at Vinjole, arranged in a randomised block design with four blocks. The aim of the study was to select a late flowering cultivar of English ryegrass which would stay in tillering phase for longer period. For this purpose we tested germ plasma material of four Slovene ecotypes with two cvs. Naki and Ilirka (control). In first harvest year the BS1 yielded 7.22 t herbage dry matter per hectare at four week cutting interval. During the same period the similar yield was obtained within BS3 while the other yields were statistically lower. At second cutting the sward of BS1 comprised 56% of shots in leaf phase and 3.5% of shots at the beginning of heading stage. Similar sward composition was found for control (average for both varieties: 57% of shots in leaf stage and 4.3% of shots at the beginning of heading stage). BS3 was early flowering type, its sward comprised 37% of shots in leafe phase and 18.3% of shots at the beginning of heading stage. The location influenced plant morphological development considerably during first three cuts. None of ecotypes reached flowering phase at Ljubljana while in average 9.5% of shots in the ecotype stands were at the beginning of flowering stage at Vinjole.