Hybrid and perennial tetraploid ryegrasses are at least as productive and persistent as perennial diploids in dryland conditions in northern Tasmania

摘要

Perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne is the preferred grass for fertile conditions and high rainfall areas or those with irrigation. Persistence of ryegrass can become a problem in drier and warmer areas (Frascr 1994). Even in high rainfall areas of south eastern Australia receiving between 550 and 750 mm of annual rainfall, loss of perennial ryegrass within a few years from sowing is a common problem (Waller and Sale 2001).This work aimed to examine the ability of a range of foes and cultivars of ryegrass to produce and persist under dryland conditions and rotational grazing by sheep in northern Tasmania, Australia.