Slot-seeding investigations. 2. Time of sowing, seed rate and row spacing of Italian ryegrass

Italian ryegrass was slot-seeded into permanent grass in two field experiments at Oxford. In the first experiment August and September proved to be the most reliable months for slot-seeding, with April as a possible alternative. A row-spacing experiment showed that the optimum distance between rows was about 30 cm; seed rate in the row had a lesser influence on increasing herbage growth. In both experiments slot-seeding did not result in any substantial change in earliness of growth or alter total herbage harvested but it did even out the seasonal distribution of growth, particularly by increasing it in the following July.