Comparison of Selected Ecotypes and Cultivars of Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) Under Pinewoods in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) entries, eight natural populations, and two commercial checks were sown under maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) and under red pine (P. sylvestris L.) canopies, as well as in an open field area in Galicia, NW Spain. Natural populations yielded less biomass and had a higher crude protein content under pine canopies than in an adjacent open field stand. In the first two years under P. pinaster, population Mg348 yielded, in general, significantly more dry matter than the commercial varieties and more than control plots, which were fertilized but not sown. In contrast, two years after sowing, control plots invaded by spontaneous grasses yielded significantly more than several cocksfoot entries under red pine and in the unshaded stand. Therefore, ecotypic selection in cocksfoot is an alternative to the use of commercial varieties in temporal pastures under P. pinaster. In the long term, however, cocksfoot does not persist significantly more than spontaneous grasses.