Useful variation in in vitro digestibility within perennial ryegrass

In vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD) and dry matter yield (DMY) of herbage from plots sown with three selected perennial ryegrass varieties with similar heading dates (Ba11778, Talbot and Gator) under a range of harvesting frequencies (2, 3, 4 and 5-weekly harvests) were compared over two harvest years (1994 and 1995). Varieties varied in mean percentage DMD over all harvests and harvesting frequencies by 3.4 and 3.5 units in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Varietal ranking in mean DMD over all harvests was the same under each harvesting frequency in both years: Ba11778 being the highest, Gator the lowest and Talbot intermediate. In 1995, Gator had a higher proportion of unsown species in the herbage than both Ba11778 and Talbot but this was only a minor factor contributing to the differences among the varieties in mean DMD over all harvests. Although varieties consistently ranked in the same order of mean DMD over all harvesting frequencies during 13 5-week periods, the range among varieties varied from less than 1 unit to 8.6 units. This range was greatest in mid-season of each year when mean DMD over all varieties was lowest. The minimum mean DMD over all harvesting frequencies during both years was 75.5%, 70.9% and 66.8% for Ba11778, Talbot and Gator respectively. The most digestible variety Ba11778 also had higher annual DMY than the other two varieties in both harvest years and under all four harvesting frequencies. These results indicate that there is sufficient useful genetic variation for DMD within perennial ryegrass to justify breeding for the trait and its routine assessment in official variety trials.