A Very Early-Maturing Italian Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) New Variety, 'Green farm '

This experiment was carried out to breed a very early-maturing variety of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) in the Grassland and Forage Crops Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan, Korea from 2012 to 2014. New variety "Greenfarm3ho" is a diploid variety with a green leaf color, a semi-erect growth habit in late autumn/fall, and an erect growth habit in early spring. With a heading date of April 27, Greenfarm3ho was categorized as an early-maturing variety. Compared with the "Greenfarm" control variety, Greenfarm3ho`s flag-leaf width was narrower by 0.5 mm, its flag-leaf length was longer by 4.4 cm, and its plant length was longer by 3 cm; additionally, Greenfarm3ho`s stem thickness was 0.1 mm thicker and it showed winter hardiness. The dry matter (DM) yield (8,976 kg/ha) of Greenfarm3ho was similar to that of Greenfarm. The in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), total digestible nutrient (TDN), and crude protein (CP) of Greenfarm3ho were 70.0%, 64.1%, and 1.0%, respectively, which are higher than those of Greenfarm by 2.9%, 2.0%, and 1.4%, respectively. The acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of Greenfarm3ho were 31.4% and 53.3%, respectively, which are lower than those of Greenfarm by 2.5% and 3.0%, respectively.