Westerwold Ryegrass: Three New Recommendations and One Candidate for the Variety List

Fast-growing Westerwold ryegrass delivers valuable high yields on annual temporary leys and in forage intercropping. Based on the most recent variety trials, Agroscope can now recommend three new multi-cut varieties and earmark a single-cut variety for recommendation.

Westerwold ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westerwoldicum Mansh.) is particularly prized for its rapid development after seeding and its high yields in annual plantings and in intercropping. It combines well with berseem and Persian clover into productive yet short-lived mixtures and can also be used as a cover crop in spring plantings on temporary leys.  For this reason, high-yielding, easily digestible, competitive and robust varieties with the maximum possible disease resistance and that are easily preserved thanks to a sufficiently high dry-matter content are in demand.

42 varieties tested in the field

From 2021 to 2023, Agroscope tested the suitability for cultivation under Swiss conditions of 30 new cultivars and 12 recommended varieties of Westerwold ryegrass at five Swiss Central Plateau sites. The following criteria were assessed: juvenile development, total yield, first-cut yield, vigour of the plant stand, resistance to leaf diseases and persistence over the year, as well as dry-matter content and digestibility of the forage.

Three new recommendations

The three new multi-cut cultivars ‘Madonna’, ‘Meljump’ and ‘Abby’ boasted impressive results. ‘Madonna’ impressed with its performances in in total yield, first-cut yield and resistance to leaf diseases, whilst ‘Meljump’ stood out owing to its juvenile development and digestibility. Neither ‘Madonna’ nor ‘Meljump’ displayed any weaknesses as regards the remaining attributes.The new cultivar ‘Abby’ particularly shone with in its first-cut yield, fine plant stands, digestibility, juvenile development and competitive ability.

A highly promising candidate

Among the new single-cut cultivars tested, ‘Lobest’ – with its good performance in total yield, first-cut yield, dry-matter content, competitive ability, plant stand, digestibility and resistance to leaf diseases – achieved outstanding overall results, with the upshot that it can be earmarked for the List of Recommended Varieties of Forage Plants.

In order for ‘Lobest’ to be ultimately recommended, however, it must pass a further test conducted abroad which is essential for placement on the market. This test has not yet concluded. Once a positive result is confirmed, nothing else stands in the way of a recommendation.

Three deletions

The previously recommended varieties ‘Jumper’, ‘Pulse’ and ‘Adrenalin’ failed to impress this time around, and are therefore being removed from the List of Recommended Varieties. They may therefore not be used as recommended varieties beyond the end of 2026.

Variety recommendations from Agroscope for efficient forage production

Agroscope regularly tests varieties of different forage plants in order to provide the Swiss agricultural sector with up-to-date, reliable variety recommendations. The regularly updated ‘List of Recommended Varieties of Forage Plants’ forms the basis for the development of the best possible seed mixtures and is an essential guide for Swiss ley farming.