Kun-Jun Han, Simmons, Jerry D., Hutchison, Charles F., Williams, Gregory, Twidwell, Edward K.
Winter annual forages are adapted for grazing, green chop, hay, and silage production in Louisiana. Each year, scientists at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center conduct performance trials to evaluate the forage production of annual ryegrass, small grain forage, and legume forage varieties. Trials are conducted at various Louisiana State University Agricultural Center research stations throughout the state to provide information on the performance of varieties under varying soil and climatic conditions.
Louisiana State University Agricultural Center scientists use the information provided by these trials to develop a list of varieties that have performed satisfactorily in forage performance trials in Louisiana. Louisiana forage producers can use this information to decide on varieties to use in their production systems. To be included on the list of varieties that are considered to have performed satisfactorily from a crop for which several varieties are available, a commercial variety must be tested for three consecutive years and have an average yield not less than 90 percent of the three-year statewide mean of the top three yielding commercial varieties. A variety will be listed as “Promising” if, following two consecutive years of testing, it has shown acceptable agronomic performance and has yielded at least 90 percent of the statewide average of the top three commercial varieties. A variety previously suggested for planting consideration will be dropped from the list if it fails to perform satisfactorily considering both two- and three-year yield data, if it is no longer commercially available to producers or if not submitted for evaluation.
The cool-season annual forage variety testing program is open to all commercially available varieties and advanced experimental lines of annual ryegrass, small grain forages, and legume forages developed by either public or private plant breeding programs. The trials are managed using production practices suggested by the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (LCES) for each species, with soil amendments applied as indicated by soil test and herbicides used as appropriate.
Data on the cumulative forage yield and seasonal distribution of forage yield are collected for each trial to evaluate the adaptation of varieties to specific geographic regions of the state. The trials are conducted in randomized complete-block designs with at least three replications. Plots of each species are cut to a 2- to 4-inch stubble height when growth reaches eight to twelve inches. Cumulative forage yield data are combined across locations and years and analyzed by analysis of variance procedures to evaluate variety yields. The least significant difference (LSD) value represents the minimum amount by which variety yields must differ to be considered statistically different from one another. If differences are not detected among varieties, the LSD value is not presented.
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