| Arable
Festuloliums prove their worth in UK drought
Grassland is suffering badly in the summer drought, leaving many livestock producers without forage – but festuloliums
are proving their worth by remaining green and healthy.
he grasses – a cross between
drought-tolerant fescues and
high-quality ryegrass – were
originally bred for the south
European climate, but have
become increasingly popular in
the UK, where DLF is pioneering a UK range.
“I was walking around our Didbrook trial site
recently and every festulolium plot stood out,”
says Tim Kerridge, managing director at DLF.
“You could spot them a mile away.” However,
one plot that really impressed was from an old
overseeding trial which was abandoned after
the trial finished. “It was sown with
predominantly perennial ryegrass in 2004, and
then overseeded each year with a festulolium,”
explains Mr Kerridge.
The trial ended in 2009, and almost every
other plot – from clover to ryegrass - has since
been invaded by broadleaved and grass
weeds. “But the festulolium plot is almost 100%
festulolium, and the remarkable thing is that it
was still green, when everything else around it
was dead.”
Farmers should consider including
festuloliums in their grass mixtures, to benefit
from their deep rooting abilities, drought and
stress tolerance, disease resistance and
persistence, he adds. “Perseus, which is new to
the AHDB Recommended List this year has
very high yields and forage quality but is far
more persistent than Italian ryegrass alone. It is
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14 | Farming Monthly | August 2018
also the only variety on the RL with the top
score of 9 for Crown Rust, which is a very
important disease in UK grassland.”
A new variety, which is working its way
through the trials and is already approved in
the EU, is Hipast – a fescue type which is high
quality, dense and very persistent making it
suitable for longer term leys. “In the past, most
festuloliums of this type were best suited for
cutting – this is the first true multi-purpose
variety that is equally suited to long term
grazing ” says Mr Kerridge. “It has big
implications for replacing PRG on a host of
different soils and sites.”
The Didbrook trial site undertakes official
trials for AHDB, as well as in-house breeding
programmes and commercial trials. With a total
of 7,000 different plots, it offers comprehensive
testing, measuring yields, dry matter, and
quality characteristics. “There are a number of
different festulolium types reflecting tall fescue,
meadow fescue, Italian ryegrass or PRG
genetics,” explains breeding station manager
Tony Strickland.
“We’re introducing different genes to get the
best of both worlds, with very vigorous growth,
extensive rooting, high quality and yields.
Festuloliums are very popular across the
country – so aren’t just suited to droughty sites
– and there are some very exciting
developments in the pipeline.”
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