Two new perennial ryegrass varieties have been added to the Department of Agriculture recommended lists and the Teagasc pasture profit index (PPI) for 2022.

These new varieties are the intermediate tetraploid Barwave and the late diploid Aberbann.

To recap, the PPI puts a monetary value on important traits that a variety displays while under the recommended lists trials.

These traits are spring, summer and autumn growth, quality, silage yield and persistency. Each value is then summed which gives the variety a total PPI value.

The grazing utilisation trait sits outside of the PPI and uses a star system to denote the value.

A variety with five stars means that cows graze that variety out very well – it’s another important indicator of quality.

Aberclyde performs strongly across all the traits and has four stars for grazing utilisation

At the top of the PPI list for 2022 is the tetraploid Aberclyde, which is now in the top position for the last three years. It has a PPI value of €253/ha, which means that sowing this variety should generate €253/ha more profit compared to the average grass performance in Ireland.

Aberclyde performs strongly across all the traits and has four stars for grazing utilisation.

New variety Barwave is in second position this year with a PPI of €244. This tetraploid is marketed in Ireland by Germinal and bred in Northern Ireland by AFBI.

Silage yield is very good, highest in its category. Ground cover is moderate and the variety is considered to be persistent

Official commentary on this variety by the Department of Agriculture says it has excellent spring and autumn growth but that dry matter digestibility is moderate. It is the earliest heading tetraploid variety in its category with a heading date of 22 May.

Silage yield is very good, highest in its category. Ground cover is moderate and the variety is considered to be persistent.

Barwave has no grazing utilisation score yet, but this will be present in next year’s PPI. It was sown in the Moorepark grazing evaluation plots in 2020 and has one year of evaluation complete.

Utilisation score

Varieties need two full years of grazing evaluation before the utilisation score is published. This is why some varieties don’t yet have a score for utilisation.

The fact that Barwave has a negative PPI value of -€20 for quality is a bit of a concern, but it scores very highly in spring growth.

Later-heading varieties are in the vegetative state for longer which, in simple terms, means more leaf and less stem for more of the early part of the season

This harks back to the fact that quality is often a challenge with varieties that head early.

It’s a balancing act between breeding varieties with very good early spring growth and maintaining quality for the rest of the season.

Later-heading varieties are in the vegetative state for longer which, in simple terms, means more leaf and less stem for more of the early part of the season.

It is important that farmers read through the PPI when choosing grass varieties and not just go for the highest PPI. For example, if the field is going to be primarily used for intensive grazing, then the silage value can be disregarded and more focus put on varieties with good growth, quality and utilisation traits.