Yields, plant characteristics, total N and fibre composition of timothy cultivars grown at two latitudes

H Tapani Kunelius,Seppo K Pullli,Pertti Pärssinen

doi:10.23986/afsci.72757

Abstract

Timothy (Phleum pratense L.) cultivars of southern (45°N) and northern (≥60°N) origin were grown in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada (46° N) and Jokioinen, Finland (61° N) in two years. Timothy was harvested twice a season and nitrogen applied at 100 or 150 kg/ha. Dry matter yields were higher in Charlottetown than in Jokioinen and northern cultivars outyielded southern cultivars. Nitrogen at 150 kg/ha increased total yields an average of 1.4 t/ha over the 100 kg N/ha rate. The stems and panicles of timothy were longer in Charlottetown. Northern cultivars had longer panicles. The leaf content of cultivars ranged from 139 to 230 g/kg. Northern cultivars had greater N concentrations (22.1 g/kg) in cut 2 than southern timothies (19.7 g/kg). Concentrations of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) in cut 1 were lower in Jokioinen, In conclusion, northern cultivars performed well in Charlottetown but there were differences in yield stability among cultivars. Nutritional quality of timothy cultivars varied among the sites and the significance of differences in NDF and ADF in relation to animal performance require further study.

Highlights

Concentrations of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) in cut 1 were lower in Jokioinen, In conclusion, northern cultivars performed well in Charlottetown but there were differences in yield stability among cultivars
Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) concentrations oftimothy cultivars in cut 1 were lower in Jokioinen than in Charlottetown while in cut 2 the reverse was true (Table 8)
Timothy is adapted to the growing conditions of microthermal regions such as Atlantic Canada and Nordic countries

Summary

Introduction

Timothy (Phleum pratense L.) cultivars of southern (45°N) and northern (>6O°N) origin were grown in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada (46° N) and Jokioinen, Finland (61° N) in two years. Dry matter yields were higher in Charlottetown than in Jokioinen and northern cultivars outyielded southern cultivars. Concentrations of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) in cut 1 were lower in Jokioinen, In conclusion, northern cultivars performed well in Charlottetown but there were differences in yield stability among cultivars. Winter survival of timothy in Alaska (61.6°N) was the best for cultivars originating from northern, high latitude regions in the Nordic countries (Klebesadel and Helm 1986). Deinum et al (1981) found that contrasting timothy cultivars, harvested at the same morphological stage, were more digestible grown at high latitudes than those grown at lower latitudes. The digestibility of early maturing timothy cultivars tends to be greater than that of late maturing cultivars at the same morphological stage (Koch 1976, Mika 1983)

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