Australia
February 28, 2020

Shepparton trial site – SF Oasis (left) v SF Lazuly (right)

Seed Force has released SF Oasis, its third soft-leaf cocksfoot in Australia, building on the success of this new high-quality type, initially launched with SF Greenly in 2008 and followed by SF Lazuly in 2009.

All three varieties have been bred by RAGT in France, a cornerstone Seed Force shareholder and the main supplier of the company’s improved plant genetics which are marketed throughout Australia.

Cocksfoot has typically been used in high aluminium soils and marginal ryegrass regions, due to its improved persistence over perennial ryegrass. It has good persistence in most soil types, handles low fertility and acid soils, but is more sensitive to long periods of waterlogging.
 

David Gould, Seed Force
 

Due to its lower feed quality, cocksfoot has traditionally been relegated to the bottom of the list of preferred grasses to include in pasture mixes by livestock producers. However, since the introduction of these high-quality soft-leaf types by Seed Force many producers are now using them to replace paddocks previously sown to perennial ryegrass or tall fescue.

According to Seed Force territory manager, David Gould, this has resulted in the annual use of cocksfoot in Australia almost doubling over the past decade.

“RAGT developed this new type of cocksfoot due to the lack of persistence of perennial ryegrass in local regions of southern France, with temperatures ranging from -10° to +40°C. They focused on breeding quality into a highly persistent species with outstanding success,” he said.

“We saw this in our early trials in Australia, where stock selectively grazed the RAGT cocksfoots when grazing off perennial grass trials, including perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, phalaris and cocksfoot.

“We screened many cocksfoot types but focused our efforts on the new soft leaf varieties as they can deliver both high yields and much improved feed quality.”
 

SF Oasis multiplication block
 

SF Oasis is slightly later flowering and will produce much more summer feed than SF Lazuly. Where more winter feed is also required, it can be mixed with SF Jeronimo prairie grass in higher summer rainfall regions such as northern NSW or with SF Maté phalaris in southern regions.

“Based on RAGT’s experience, Seed Force trialled different sowing rates for cocksfoot and found better quality and more successful establishment at higher seeding rates than previously used in Australia,” Mr Gould continued.

“We now recommend sowing at 8-12kg/ha when used as the sole grass in a mixed pasture sward, which is still considerably cheaper per hectare than perennial ryegrass sown at 20-25kg/ha or tall fescue sown at 16-20kg/ha.

“These new soft-leaf cocksfoots can be sown at higher density rates for intensive dairy and beef operations to provide a more persistent pasture option than perennial ryegrass, with no adverse animal health effects and resistance to most plant pests such as African black beetle.”

Cocksfoot relative seasonal performance – relative to Porto = 100%

*Varieties sown in up to five, three year replicated trials, including Armidale and Warrnambool 2012, Gloucester 2013, Penshurst 2015 and Shepparton 2016.

Cocksfoot total yield performance by site – kg DM/ha/year

*trials sown at 10kg/ha. Armidale, Warrnambool and Gloucester sites managed by Seed Force. Penshurst site managed by AgriResults. Shepparton site managed by Eurofins.

Website: http://www.seedforce.com.au

Published: March 5, 2020