Saskatoon researchers have developed a dual purpose bromegrass that delivers good first-cut hay yields and regrows rapidly so it can also be used for pasture.
Smooth bromegrass provides good hay yields, but is not as useful for pasture because of its long regrowth period.
Meadow bromegrass is Western Canada’s standard pasture grass, but is not as productive as smooth bromegrass when used for hay . It is also difficult to cut because of its abundant basal leaves.
The new hybrid bromegrass has yields almost as high as smooth bromegrass (yields are the same in brown and dark brown soil zones) and produces good pasture.
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“In pasture trials at Swift Current we found that it produces as much or even more beef per acre than meadow brome and of course smooth brome,” said Bruce Coulman, research scientist at Agriculture Canada’s Saskatoon Research Centre.
“Having a species that has good hay and pasture characteristics is quite desirable and the beef industry has expressed a lot of interest in this type of plant.”
Coulman talked about the new hybrid at the Western Canadian Forage and Grazing Conference held Dec. 8-10 in Saskatoon.
Crossing smooth and meadow brome and then selecting through several generations for desirable characteristics produced hybrid bromegrass populations. Coulman’s predecessor made the first crosses back in 1980.
The Saskatchewan Advisory Council on Forage Crops has supported the new species for registration in Canada. Coulman said the Saskatoon Research Council will be negotiating a production and marketing agreement with a seed company early next year.
He expects the first hybrid brome cultivar to be released early in 2000 and hopes to see limited quantities of commercial seed available by 2002. The new species will probably replace more smooth brome than meadow brome acreage.
Coulman said the seed will be sold at a price comparable to smooth and meadow brome seed and will be produced in a similar manner.
