How good is Tama ryegrass?

Abstract

‘GRASSLANDS TAMA’ Westerwolds ryegrass (Lolium multijlorum Lam.) is a tetraploid cultivar of an extreme annual form of Italian ryegrass, bred in New Zealand and released into certification in 1967 (Barclay and Vartha, 1966) . Tama has been used mainly as a greenfeed crop to provide high quality production feed for use in late pregnancy and early lactation and should not be confused with winter maintenance feed crops such as swedes and turnips. Seed sales of Tama on the domestic market have declined in recent years, no doubt caused in part by the high cost of seed and by poor performance from sowings in dry autumns. To ensure reliability of Tama feed supply in late winter-early spring, correct husbandry in the previous months is required. It is the purpose of this paper to review this husbandry in the light of recent research findings.