Grass mixtures or pure ryegrass?

18 October 2023

The advantage of using grass mixtures compared to single-species seeding

The choice of pure ryegrass forage must follow strict criteria, as its tendency to absorb large amounts of potassium and nitrates makes it highly susceptible to lodging. Moreover, this often results in a product that is qualitatively unsuitable for the nutrition of dairy cows.

This issue is even more pronounced in areas where the disposal of livestock manure is particularly high relative to the available land surface. Further exacerbating the situation in recent decades is climate change, which has led to very dry winters and springs, preventing adequate leaching of excessive concentrations of these two elements from the soil.

For these reasons, Tecnozoo technicians recommend focusing attention on the use of grass mixtures or pure cereals, also in combination with ryegrass.

The greater use of cereals is preferable because these cultivars have a lower capacity than ryegrass to absorb nitrates and potassium from the soil.

In addition,

we have observed that in recent years late or medium-late varieties included in various grass mixtures have become essential in response to ongoing climate change, as they ensure:

A wide harvest window (8–10 days).
Under stable climatic conditions, a delay in harvesting of about 10 days compared with early varieties.
Reduced crop stress during very dry springs (late varieties tend to recover better after severe spring drought, with significantly better results than early varieties, which tend to head earlier and prematurely end their growth cycle).
Higher quantitative yields, and therefore greater dry matter production per hectare, compared with early varieties.
Greater resistance to fungal diseases.

Contact our technical service to receive full information on our varieties and to choose the grass mixture best suited to your needs.