Relative Grazing Preference, Herbage Yield, In Vitro Digestibility, and Other Comparisons Among Seven Perennial Grasses at Various Times of the Year in Southcentral Alaska

Abstract

This report summarizes a two-year study of dairy cow grazing preference among seven perennial grasses at various times during the growing season conducted at the University of Alaska's Matanuska Research Farm (6l.6°N) near Palmer in southcentral Alaska. Other factors documented were herbage yields, digestibility (in vitro dry-matter disappearance =IVDMD), winterhardiness, and persistence of grasses. Grasses compared were three named cultivars released by this station: 'Polar' bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss. x B. pumpellianus Scribn.), 'Nugget' Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), and 'Arctared' red fescue (Festuca ruhra L.); 'Engmo' timothy (Phleumpratense L.) from northern Norway; 'Garrison' creeping foxtail (Alopecurus arundinaceus Poir.) selected in North Dakota; and two native Alaska grasses, Siberian wildrye (Elymus sihiricus L.) and arctic wheatgrass (Agropyron sericeum Hitchc.).