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Bestfor Plus Intermediate Ryegrass
Bestfor Plus Intermediate Tetraploid Ryegrass is a new specialty forage grass particularly useful in applications such as dairy and beef grazing operations, where high yields, excellent digestibility, and exceptional palatability are desirable. It's high feed value, fast growth and impressive digestibility levels encourage rapid weight gain on any livestock.
Bestfor Plus is a "Lolium Hybridum", meaning that it grows fast like an annual or Italian ryegrass, but lasts longer than one year. Typically Lolium Hybridums start thinning out rapidly after the third year.
Bestfor Plus is also a tetraploid, meaning it has larger leaves and is more upright and open in its growth, making it useful for both grazing and mechanical harvesting. It is also very high in sugar content and considered a "high energy" forage.
Bestfor Plus establishes very quickly. If your experience is like ours, and independent researchers, you will find Bestfor Plus coming up after planting at an amazing rate. In the official university trials at Penn State in the fall of 2003, Bestfor Plus was literally two inches higher than all other entries after only two weeks of initial growth!
| Bestfor Plus Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Longevity | 2-3 years |
| Germination | 5-7 days |
| Endophyte Level | Very Low |
| Crude Protein | 16-20% |
| FDN | 47-50% |
| FDA | 27-29% |
| TDN | 60-75% |
| Seeding Rate | 25-30 lbs/acre |
| Recommended Ph level | 5-8 |
Bestfor Plus was bred for improved rust resistance and increased winter hardiness* over other Lolium Hybridums.
*Although improvements have been made, Bestfor Plus should only be planted with the knowledge that it may be severely damaged if sufficient snow cover does not exist, especially in regions where open winters are a possibility.
Trial Results
In annual ryegrass trials, Bestfor Plus has out-yielded many well known varieties, even though Bestfor Plus is a multi-year ryegrass. Additionally, in recent trials in Michigan and Kentucky, Bestfor Plus has shown its ability to be planted in the fall and out-produce many other varieties and species the first and second years. Forage quality data from Penn State shows very impressive NDF numbers.
Northern Trials
In Michigan's East Lansing Trial, Bestfor Plus scored higher than all the other ryegrasses, and even out-scored some other species!
| Cultivar | Species | 2006 Total |
2005 Total |
2004 Total |
3-yr Total |
Winter Injury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvester | OG | 4.44 | 4.16 | 7.47 | 16.07* | 1 |
| Lidacta | OG | 4.22 | 4.25 | 7.03 | 15.50* | 1 |
| Rushmore | OG | 4.1 | 3.74 | 7.07 | 14.91* | 1 |
| Command | OG | 4.11 | 3.81 | 6.51 | 14.43* | 1 |
| Bestfor Plus | IR | 3.55 | 2.28 | 8.21 | 14.04 | 2 |
| Jesup Max Q | TF | 3.9 | 3.59 | 5.67 | 13.16 | 1 |
| Spidola | PR | 3.26 | 2.81 | 6.55 | 12.62 | 1.7 |
| Alpine | OG | 3.47 | 2.74 | 4.92 | 11.13 | 3.9 |
| MTV1 | PR | 3.15 | 2.83 | 6.53 | 12.51 | 1 |
| Teton | TF | 3.25 | 3.51 | 5.71 | 12.45 | 1 |
| Matrix | PR | 2.59 | 1.88 | 5.1 | 9.57 | 2.2 |
| Lsd | -- | 0.59 | 0.78 | 1.44 | 2.2 | 0.48 |
| IR - Intermediate Rye, OG - Orchardgrass, PR - Perennial Ryegrass, TF - Tall Fescue | ||||||
| *not significantly different from the highest numerical value in the column based on the Lsd | ||||||
| Fertilizer: 120 lbs N/a 46-0-0 at green up, 200 lbs N/a 34-0-0 after cut 1 and 2 | ||||||
| Seeded Aug 5th, 2003 on Conover loam, tile drained soil (yield in tons/acre) | ||||||
| More trial data from Michigan State University | ||||||
In Kentucky, Bestfor Plus had difficulty coming out of winter the first year, but still ended up with the highest tonnage for the year. The same is true for the second year.
| Cultivar | Seedling Vigor |
Percent Stand | Total Yield | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/15/2005 | 10/28/2005 | 4/14/2006 | 10/17/2006 | '05 | '06 | 2-yr | ||
| Bestfor Plus | 5 | 5 | 63 | 63 | 45 | 4.06 | 2.98 | 7.04* |
| Linn | 3.3 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 96 | 3.8 | 2.65 | 6.44* |
| Amazon | 3 | 100 | 99 | 99 | 98 | 3.82 | 2.36 | 6.19* |
| Bastion C-2 | 3 | 100 | 98 | 98 | 88 | 3.36 | 2.35 | 5.70* |
| Lsd | 0.4 | 0 | 8 | 10.2 | 19.9 | 0.9 | 0.64 | 1.14 |
| * not significantly different from the highest numerical value in the column based on the Lsd | ||||||||
| Seeded Sept 13th, 2004 (yield in tons/acre) | ||||||||
| Complete trial results available! | ||||||||
| Cultivar | Date Cut | Cut -1 Yield | Quality by NIR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | ADF | NDF | |||
| Voyager | 1-Jun | 1.72 | 12.3 | 31.7 | 57.8 |
| Bestfor Plus | 1-Jun | 2.1 | 11.7 | 33.4 | 58.8 |
| AberEcho | 1-Jun | 2.16 | 11.2 | 34.3 | 59.2 |
| AberDart | 1-Jun | 1.02 | 12.2 | 32.7 | 58.9 |
| Bargala | 6-Jun | 1.63 | 11.6 | 32.2 | 60.7 |
| Sierra | 26-May | 1.77 | 12.8 | 31.1 | 61.4 |
| Grand Daddy | 1-Jun | 1.85 | 11.2 | 31.7 | 61.5 |
| AberAvon | 6-Jun | 1.4 | 12 | 34.2 | 61.6 |
| Tetrelite II | 6-Jun | 2.97 | 11 | 34.8 | 62.7 |
| AberCraigs | 13-Jun | 1.36 | 10.9 | 34.1 | 64.5 |
| Barsprinter | 6-Jun | 1.9 | 11.3 | 33.5 | 65 |
| Remmington | 13-Jun | 2.19 | 11.6 | 33.9 | 65.6 |
| Seeded April 20th, 2004 (yield in tons/acre) | |||||
Southern Trials
| Cultivar | Total Yield | Percent Crown Rust |
|---|---|---|
| Bestfor Plus | 5,429 | 9% |
| Jumbo | 5,398 | 8% |
| Rio | 5,233 | 8% |
| Gulf | 5,033 | 6% |
| Tam 90 | 4,656 | 15% |
| Lsd | 686 | -- |
| Seeded in the Fall, cut 10 times between Nov and May (yield in tons/acre) | ||
| Cultivar | Total Yield |
|---|---|
| Bestfor Plus | 8,355 |
| Rio | 8,153 |
| Hercules | 7,671 |
| Gulf | 7,320 |
| Lsd | 717 |
| Seeded in the Fall, cut 5 times between Jan and May (yield in tons/acre)) | |