December 14, 2007
Contact: Julie Hansen, Cornell University,
607-255-5043
Most Recent Forage & Grass Variety Yield Data Now Online for NNY
Farmers
Data from 2007 yield trials for nearly 200 varieties of forage crops,
including alfalfa, is now available from the Northern New York
Agricultural Development Program at
www.nnyagdev.org. A nine-page report, detailing forage field trials
for alfalfa, red clover, birdsfoot trefoil, orchardgrass, timothy,
bromegrass, ryegrass, fescue, festulolium, and Kentucky bluegrass,
includes special notes for Northern New York farmers on the trials at
the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY
In each trial at five sites a group of top-yielding cultivars was
identified. Researcher Associate Julie Hansen with the Cornell
University Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics notes that the
alfalfa cultivars are recommended for resistance or high resistance to
four diseases of the crop. She says, �An important consideration when
selecting alfalfa cultivars is that those with fall dormancy ratings
higher than 4 may have unacceptable winter-hardiness for New York,
particularly Northern New York.�
Hansen adds, �The cultivars for the trials were from the new and
improved cultivars offered by plant breeders and seed companies for
improved agronomic characteristics such as yield, disease and insect
resistance, and forage quality. Trials are planted each spring with the
most advanced genetics in forage varieties available to producers.�
The complete New York Forage Legume and Grass Variety Yield Trials
Summary for 2007 Season Totals report and specific reports for the
trials at Chazy, NY, are online at
www.nnyagdev.org. # # #