New cocksfoot variety recommendation: «RGT Lovely» instead of «Lazuly»

From 2015 to 2017, a total of 23 varieties of cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.), 11 of which were new varieties, were tested on seven Agroscope sites as to their suitability for use under Swiss growing conditions. The varieties were evaluated according to yield, feed digestibility, vigour, juvenile development, competitive ability, resistance to leaf diseases, winter-hardiness and persistence. Vigour, digestibility and persistence were double-weighted. Of all the new varieties tested, only the medium- late variety «RGT Lovely» met the requirements for recommendation, achieving the best results among the varieties tested for yield, competitive ability and winter-hardiness. It also performed superbly in terms of persistence and resistance to leaf diseases. Despite its good agronomic qualities, the alreadyrecommended variety «Lazuly» will be deleted from the List of Recommended Varieties of Forage Plants, since it clearly no longer meets the requirements in terms of digestibility. It may therefore only be used as a recommended variety until the end of 2020.