Agronomic characteristics of pasture grasses’ cultivars and species at laboratory and field conditions (first productive year)

Some agronomic characteristics of six pasture grass cultivars were studied during the first productive year. The cultivars were the following: Two diploids Lolium perenne (Aber Elan and Olympion), two tetraploids of the same species (Aber Oscar and BA 11358), one hybrid Festuca pratensis x L. perenne (Prior) and one hybrid Festuca pratensis x L. multiflorum (Elmet). The total dry matter production was not significantly different among cultivars. Olymbion, Ba 11358 and Elmet produced significantly more dry matter at 1st cut than the 2nd. Under laboratory conditions the following species were studied: Bromus inermis, (cv. Monchar), Dactylis glomerata, cv. Perrevia, Festuca arundinacea, cv. Metsovo, Lolium perenne, cv. Olympion (the three last cultivars were produced by the Institute of Fodder Crops and Pastures – Larissa). They were tested at three temperature regimes (day:night): 16:10, 20:12 and 25:15 οC. Three observations were made after sowing (15th, 30th and 45th day). Bromus had significantly longer shoot and root length in most of the observations. The dry weight of shoot and root together started to differentiate after the second observation, where Festuca were significantly heavier than the other species. Dactylis had significantly less number of leaves than the other species at the last two observations.