Breeding Herbage Species for Northern Areas

Abstract

Variety trials with timothy were established at six locations in Northern Scandinavia and Iceland in two consecutive years. Nine northern and two Danish varieties were included in the trials, which were harvested for three years. The main objective of the study was to identify superior varieties to be grown in northern areas and determine how different environmental conditons affected their performance. The Danish varieties were in most cases lower yielding than the northern varieties, as a result of poor persistence. There were differences in yield between the northern varieties and one of the highest yielding varieties was superior in both early season growth and regrowth. The varieties showed the same ranking order in all environments, despite varying growing conditions. The lack of genotype .times. environment interaction in the northern material is considered to be of importance in terms of breeding strategy.