57 Cool-season Annual Forage Variety Selection Tool for the Southeastern United States

Abstract

Abstract Cool-season annual forage varieties of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), cereal rye (Secale cereale), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and triticale (Triticale hexaploide Lart.) are often chosen on the basis of availability and affordability rather than performance. The objective of this study was to create a source of collaborative data that would aid producers in selection of superior varieties of cool-season annual forages that perform well across varying years, geographic regions, and environments. Forage yield data was collected from forage variety trials conducted in the years of 2015–2020 by University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Pennsylvania State University, University of Kentucky, and Mississippi State University. Testing occurred at 18 different sites and across 7 states in the Eastern United States. Data from 166 annual ryegrass, 35 cereal rye, 93 wheat, and 48 triticale individual varieties were collected and standardized by expressing yields as a percentage of the mean within a given testing site-year. Standardized means were averaged across all available site-years for each variety within a species and a coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated. Varieties in each species were categorized by their relative mean yield and CV and varieties that had above average relative mean and low CV were considered desirable. The desired annual ryegrass varieties included: Marshall, K014-WLS, K0140-WEMA, FL Red 4X LATE, Angusta, RM exp-2013A, and FL AT-3. The limitedly tested but qualifying varieties of cereal rye were Wintergrazer 70, Wrens Abruzzi, NF99362, Bates RS4, and Goku, wheat were FLLA10033C-6, GA-09129-16E55, GA-051207-14E53, GA-04417-12E33, GA-03564-12E6, GA-071518-16E39, W010025-H2, PGX-16-4, AGS 3040, Oglethorpe, AGS 3030, PGX 16-1, SS EXP 8629, W010025R1, GA-09377-16LE18, GoWheat 2032, SRW 9410, and GA-071630-12LE9, and triticale were Wintermax, and TriCal 815. Results from this study will aid producers in the identification of desired cool-season annual forage varieties that consistently perform well in varying environmental conditions.