Perennial ryegrass for racing

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Perennial ryegrass for racing

• Bill Walmsley
• Turf Agronomist
• PGG Wrightson Turf

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Better summer survival of ryegrass cultivars with
endophyte
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Endophyte

• Pronounced Endo - fight
• Endo inside
• Phyte loving
• The endophyte fungus loves living inside the
  plant and is difficult to detect.

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Endophyte benefits in ryegrass

• Resists argentine stem weevil feeding
• Ryegrass survives drought better
• Ryegrass lasts longer without thinning
• Ryegrass doesnt need insecticide treatment for
  argentine stem weevil
• Ryegrass stays green longer in drought

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What is endophyte?

• A fungus that lives inside the grass
• Provides a benefit to the grass
• Fungus produces chemicals that repel insect
  feeding
• Fungus must be in seed before sowing

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How do you get endophyte grass?

• Buy perennial ryegrass seed containing endophyte.
• More than 70 of seeds infected with endophyte is
  high endophyte content.
• Need to specify high endophyte from seed
  supplier.

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Not all seed is high endophyte

• Under half of the seed tested in US turf trials
  was high endophyte (NTEP 1999).
• Endophyte dies in old stored seed.
• Buy fresh seed, less than 18 months old.

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ENDOPHYTE
Chewing insects Weevil larvae Argentine stem
weevil, Billbugs Black beetle adults Sucking
Pests Mealybugs Chinch bugs
All these insects are strongly affected by
endophyte
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Endophyte Free Ryegrass
Endophyte-free ryegrass
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High endophyte ryegrass
X
X
X
X
X
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AR1 endophyte in ryegrass
X
X
X
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Future hot endophyte in ryegrass
X
X
X
X
X
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Endophyte

• Always specify high endophyte
• or AR1 endophyte perennial ryegrass seed.

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Pasture ryegrass characteristics
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Both perennial ryegrasses have relatively fine
leaves
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Both perennial ryegrasses have reasonable density
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Both perennial ryegrasses have acceptable colour
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Ryegrass seasonal colour
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Perennial ryegrass colour

• Perennial ryegrass cultivars complimented each
  other.
• Actively growing cultivar usually had good
  colour.
• The short rotation and annual types often had an
  unsightly yellow colour.

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Both perennial ryegrasses have reasonable quality
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Summer growing Early Sept
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Summer growing - December
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Summer growing - March
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Summer growing -May
Summer growing poor in winter
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Winter growing - May
Winter growing excellent in winter
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Summer growing - June
Summer growing cultivar poor in winter
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Winter growing -June
Winter growing cultivar excellent in winter
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Perennial ryegrass quality

• Actively growing cultivars had the best quality.
• Summer and winter growing cultivars complimented
  each other.
• One cultivar always good quality.

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Perennial ryegrass mixtures

• Best year round quality comes from a mixture of a
  summer growing ryegrass and a winter growing
  ryegrass cultivar.

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Racing ryegrass mixtures

• Pharlap
• A premium mixture containing a summer and a
  winter growing perennial ryegrass with AR1 hot
  endophyte.
• Cheval
• A general purpose mixture containing high
  endophyte perennial ryegrass.