Annual ryegrass

Economic importance

Annual ryegrass is grown in mixtures with annual legumes for green fodder and for winter feed conservation. When establishing cultivated pastures, it serves as a cover crop.

Hay and green mass of annual ryegrass are readily eaten by all types of animals. By the beginning of flowering, the protein content is 16.7%. In the sowing year, it produces good forage mass.

Chemical composition of the dry mass of annual ryegrass: protein 17.4%; fiber 23.2%; sugars 13.3%. Chemical composition of a grass mixture of ryegrass, oats and vetch: protein 20.2%, fiber 23.4%, sugars 9.8%.

100 kg of green mass contains 19.1 feed units and 1.7 kg of digestible protein. 100 kg of hay — 57.0 feed units and 4.9 kg of digestible protein.

It is used for landscaping lawns and sports grounds, as it is able to form turf quickly. It is distinguished by high tillering, a long period of shoot formation, the ability for vegetative propagation, and good aftermath regrowth. With sufficient moisture, shoot formation occurs throughout the whole growing season — from tillering to ripening.

The root system of annual ryegrass promotes the formation of a fine-crumb soil structure.

History of the crop

Annual ryegrass was developed in Holland from the perennial Italian ryegrass, which is notable for its short lifespan.

It has long been cultivated in Western Europe and North America as an early-maturing forage grass.

In Russia, it has not yet become widespread; it is considered a promising forage crop for intensive agriculture in the forest and forest-steppe zones.

Cultivation areas

Due to its very short growing season (60–90 days), it can be cultivated as far as the Kola Peninsula.

Main cultivation areas: Non-Black Earth Zone, Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia, Far East.

Yield

Hay yield over 2–3 cuts can reach 6–8 t/ha, green mass — 20–25 t/ha, seeds — 500–1000 kg/ha.

Botanical description

Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westervoldicum Wittm.) is an annual plant of the Poaceae family.

The root system is fibrous, well developed, and located mainly in the arable layer of the soil.

The stem is thin, straight or curved, 50–60 cm high, sometimes 90 cm, and well leafed.

The leaves are linear, shiny on the lower side and slightly rough on the upper side.

The inflorescence is a loose spike, 15–18 cm long, with 12–25 spikelets. Unlike couch grass, the spikelets are positioned with their narrow side toward the spike rachis.

The fruit is an elongated, lanceolate, non-pubescent caryopsis, gray, light gray, or brown. The weight of 1000 seeds is 1.8–3.2 g.

Biological characteristics

Cold resistance is high; it has low heat requirements. Seeds germinate at 1–4 °C, seedlings emerge at 8–9 °C. The optimal temperature for germination is 20–25 °C. Seedlings withstand frosts of -2…-3 °C.

Annual ryegrass is a moisture-loving plant. It tolerates drought poorly. With insufficient moisture, tillering, plant height, and yield decrease.

A long-day crop.

It grows well on various soils: clay, loamy, sandy loam, drained peatlands, and moist lands. It can also grow on calcareous chernozem and acidic podzolic soils. Well-cultivated soils are optimal.

Vegetation

Annual ryegrass germinates, producing one embryonic root.

Tillering begins at the 3–4 leaf stage. With continuous sowing, tillering amounts to 3–6 stems per plant; with a sparse stand, up to 200 stems. Shoot formation continues throughout the whole growing season, which makes it possible to obtain several cuts during the growing period.

Annual ryegrass quickly forms aboveground mass and is classified as an early-maturing grass.

Flowering occurs 35–60 days after emergence. The growing season lasts 60–90 days.

In the north, it allows 1–2 cuts; at the latitude of Moscow and further south, 3 cuts during the year. The first cut is carried out 35–50 days after emergence. Between the first and second cuts, 30–35 days usually pass; between the second and third, 45–50 days.

Crop rotation

Annual ryegrass is cultivated in forage and field crop rotations. Fields intended for sowing annual grasses are allocated to it.

Good preceding crops are considered to be winter and spring cereals, grain legumes, and row crops.

It serves as a good preceding crop for cereals and row crops.

Annual ryegrass gives good results in mixed sowings with annual legumes; hay yield increases by 1.5–2.0 t/ha, and protein collection by 100 kg/ha (VNII of Feed).

Fertilization

It responds well to the application of nitrogen fertilizers; green mass yield increases 1.5–2 times.

Based on experimental data, the recommended fertilizer rates for annual ryegrass are: nitrogen — 100–150 kg/ha, phosphorus — 200–300 kg/ha, potassium — 100 kg/ha, or N_30-45P_30-45K_30-45. Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied in autumn under fall plowing, nitrogen — in spring before cultivation.

After the first cut, top dressing is carried out with 100–150 kg/ha of nitrogen fertilizers.

Soil treatment

Soil treatment is carried out similarly to treatment for early-sown crops (early spring cereals).

Sowing

The seed sowing rate in pure stand is 20–30 kg/ha, in grass mixtures 10–14 kg/ha, for seed with the wide-row method — 10–14 kg/ha.

Seeding depth — up to 2–3 cm.

Sowing time is the earliest, usually simultaneously with early spring grain crops.

Sowing methods: for fodder — normal row sowing; for seed — wide-row with row spacing of 45–60 cm.

The sowing rate in grass mixtures is 100–120 kg/ha of spring vetch or 120–150 kg/ha of grass pea, or the same sowing rate of alkaloid-free yellow lupine. Sowing dates for grass mixtures are determined by the optimal sowing dates of the legume components. Sometimes overseeding is carried out under the cover of a vetch-oat mixture, or it is used as a cover crop when sowing perennial grasses. In the latter case, the sowing rate is 15–18 kg/ha.

Annual ryegrass can also be undersown under fiber flax. After flax pulling, it produces a good grass stand, which makes it possible to use the flax field for spreading flax straw.

For seed production, sowing is carried out in pure stand.

Harvesting

Harvesting for hay begins during heading — the beginning of flowering.

For seed, harvesting begins when the seeds on the central stem reach full ripeness. The seeds shatter easily, so two-stage harvesting is recommended.

Varieties

Moskovsky 74 (1979). The variety was bred by the VNII of Feed.

Izorsky (1984). Bred by the Leningrad Research Institute of Agriculture.

References

1. Vavilov P. P., Gritsenko V. V., Kuznetsov V. S. et al. (1986). Crop Production. Edited by Vavilov P. P. 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Moscow: Agropromizdat.

2. Kolomeichenko V. V. (2007). Crop Production/Textbook. Moscow: Agrobiznescenter.

3. Niklyaev V. S. (2000). Fundamentals of Agricultural Production Technology. Agriculture and Crop Production. Moscow: Bylina.