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  • H 80 Irrigation Management For Perennial Ryegrass Seed Crops

H80 Irrigation management for perennial ryegrass seed crops

Ryegrass seed crop
17 October 2025
Read PDF Online

This Herbage Update summarises three seasons of irrigation experiments investigating yield penalties from early versus late-season drought and identifying mechanisms to guide irrigation strategies for improved water-use efficiency.

Key Points:

  • Around 220-320mm of irrigation water increased seed yield of 'Grasslands Samson' by 520-1300 kg/ha across three seasons.
  • In a single season trial, the later-flowering cultivar 'One50' needed about 97mm more irrigation than 'Grasslands Samson' to achieve the same seed yield.
  • Yield losses only occurred when the soil moisture deficit exceeded about 75mm no matter when the dry period (drought) happened.
  • Applying 50-66% of evapotranspiration (ET) each week used less irrigation but still kept soil moisture above the critical deficit level in all seasons by making better use of the rainfall.
  • In fully irrigated treatments, rainfall was commonly lost as drainage.
  • Greater yields came from more seeds per square metre heavier seed, compared with droughted (non-irrigated) plots. 

Read the full update here. 

Downloads

  • 438697 FAR arable update herbage 80 262.242 KB

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