Australia - New Italian ryegrass accelerates genetic gain

A new benchmark in winter and total forage yield is being set by the latest Italian ryegrass variety to be released by Seed Force.

SF Accelerate 2 is a late flowering diploid that includes material from well-known varieties such as Concord, Tabu, Warrior and Sonik, plus European genetics.

Bred by RAGT in France, the new variety also includes some highly winter active New Zealand genetics to deliver considerable additional performance benefits.

Seed Force territory manager, Tanya Hayes, says the variety will be commercially available this year, following an initial limited release in 2019.

“SF Accelerate 2 is an exciting new direction in Italian ryegrass breeding.

“It follows on from our SF Accelerate which was released in 2007 and immediately set a new level of forage yield performance.

“In recent years, some new varieties have generated similar yields to SF Accelerate but with greater increases in winter production. SF Accelerate delivers a better Estimated Breeding Value due to its higher nutritive value as measured by NSW Feed Quality Services.
“Now with SF Accelerate 2 we are raising the bar again.”

Trialled as SFR33-023, the variety performed well in nine Seed Force replicated trials from northern NSW through to northern Victoria.

“SF Accelerate 2 is delivering 17% higher winter feed than Crusader and is also higher than both Knight and Concord 2. We are seeing 14% higher total yield than Crusader.”

“It has exceptional seedling vigour with good heat tolerance and has consistently been the best performed variety when sown into sub-tropical pastures, which is common practice in northern NSW and south east Queensland coastal regions,” she said.

“It has also performed well when sown into cultivated or sprayed-out ground in southern temperate trials.”

SF Accelerate 2 has been released as an agency product, available through rural retailers that provide specialist seed advisory support.
For further information, contact your local Seed Force specialist.