This study investigated the comparative growth characteristics, yield, chemical compositions, and nutritive yield of Italian ryegrass cultivars harvested in a paddy field. The experimental design was a randomized block design with three replicates. The treatments consisted of seven Italian ryegrass cultivars (Kogreen, Kowinmaster, Hwasan 101, Kowinnearly, Kospeed, Sahalie select, and Strike). The planting date was October 21, 2009 and the sample harvest was occurred on May 21, 2010. Dry matter yield was higher in Kowinnerary and Kogreen than in the other varieties (p<0.05). Crude protein and ether extract contents were highest in Hwasan 101 and lowest in Kospeed. The content of total digestible nutrients did not differ among the Italian ryegrass varieties. The amino acid contents were in the order Hwasan 101 > Strike > Kowinnearly > Kogreen > Sahalie select > Kospeed > Kowinnearly (p<0.05). Fructose content was highest in Kospeed, while glucose and sucrose contents were highest in Hwasan 101. The results of this study indicate that Kowinnearly, in terms of dry matter yield, and Hwasan 101, in terms of feed value (chemical composition and free sugar content), may be recommended for forage production in a paddy field.

This study was aimed to find yield prediction model of Italian ryegrass using climate big data and geographic information. After that, mapping the predicted yield results using Geographic Information System (GIS) as follows; First, forage data were collected; second, the climate information, which was matched with forage data according to year and location, was gathered from the Korean Metrology Administration (KMA) as big data; third, the climate layers used for GIS were constructed; fourth, the yield prediction equation was estimated for the climate layers. Finally, the prediction model was evaluated in aspect of fitness and accuracy. As a result, the fitness of the model (R2) was between 27% to 95% in relation to cultivated locations. In Suwon (n=321), the model was; DMY = 158.63AGD –8.82AAT +169.09SGD - 8.03SAT +184.59SRD -13,352.24 (DMY: Dry Matter Yield, AGD: Autumnal Growing Days, SGD: Spring Growing Days, SAT: Spring Accumulated Temperature, SRD: Spring Rainfall Days). Furthermore, DMY was predicted as 9,790±120 (kg/ha) for the mean DMY(9,790 kg/ha). During mapping, the yield of inland areas were relatively greater than that of coastal areas except of Jeju Island, furthermore, northeastern areas, which was mountainous, had lain no cultivations due to weak cold tolerance. In this study, even though the yield prediction modeling and mapping were only performed in several particular locations limited to the data situation as a startup research in the Republic of Korea.

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of harvesting time of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam; IRG) in spring on dry matter (DM) yield. IRG cultivars ‘Kowinearly’ and ‘Greenfarm’ were seeded at 50 kg/ha and grown on rice paddy fields. There was no difference in growth characteristics between both varieties before winter. However, cold tolerance of Kowinearly was higher than that of Greenfarm, as demonstrated by post-wintering growth characteristics. The heading date of both varieties was affected by the spring weather. The IRG was harvested three times at 5-day intervals beginning from 9 May. The DM yield of Greenfarm was 6,306; 7,335; and 8,109 kg/ha, and that of Kowinearly was 7,498; 9,196; and 10,449 kg/ha at the three consecutive harvests. The delay of the harvesting time for 5 and 10 days increased the DM yield of Greenfarm by 16% and 29% and that of Kowinearly by 23% and 39%, respectively, compared to the yield at first harvest (p < 0.05). Therefore, IRG harvest later than early to mid-May is expected to increase productivity. The feed values of Greenfarm were: 12.2% of crude protein (CP), 34.5% of acid detergent fiber (ADF), 57.7% of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 61.6% of total digestible nutrients (TDN), and 72.3% of in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD). For Kowinearly, these values were 16.4% of CP, 30.4% of ADF, 52.7% of NDF, 64.9% of TDN and 79.0% of IVDMD.

The present study investigated the effects of different seeding rates on growth characteristics and seed productivity of the “Kowinearly” cultivar of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) in paddy fields. Sowing Kowinearly in paddy fields under growing rice at the rates of 20, 30, 40, and 50 kg/ha resulted in seed yields of 1.57, 1.92, 2.06, and 2.09 ton/ha, respectively. Seed yield of Kowinearly was the highest at a seeding rate of 50 kg/ha (p<0.05), at which the cultivar was able to survive in winter and the weed ratio was low. Under these conditions, most growth characteristics such as winter survival (85%), weed ratio (10%), stems per square meter (1,006) were superior than those sown at other seeding rates (p<0.05). In addition, it has been reported that the economic efficiency of the 50 kg/ha seeding rate was higher than that of the other seeding rates.

Anaerobic digestion is a collection of naturally occurring processes that convert organic matter and liquid residue, so-called digestate. The use of digestate biofertilizers is one of the important components of integrated nutrient management, as they are renewable sources of plant nutrients for sustainable agriculture. Seeds of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) were germinated in different concentration of Chlorella in order to investigate it’s the effect of Chlorella on growth parameters, seed germination and early growth. The experiment using plug tray was conducted at the green house placed in the Sangji University. The experiment consisted of nine treatments including different concentrations of Chlorella sp. culture solution and non-treated control. The germination percentage at the treatment with 25% Chlorella sp. culture solution was greater than that of control. The 50% concentration of Chlorella sp. culture solution was found to promote a better seedling growth in terms of shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight compared to the anaerobic digestate. Results showed that the best concentration of Chlorella culture solution was achieved by the 50% concentration of Chlorella culture solution treatment. As a conclusion, the application of Chlorella culture solution was found to be able to promote the germination and shoots growth of Italian ryegrass

In order to study the effect of barley, Italian ryegrass (IRG), and legume mixture on nitrogen fixation and transfer to grasses on spring paddy field, an experiment was carried out from Oct. 2006 to June 2007 in Naju, Korea. A split plot design with three replications was used for the experiment. One reference plot was assigned for each treatment to determine nitrogen fixation. Main plots consisted of Chinese milk vetch, crimson clover, forage pea, and hairy vetch with barley, respectively. Subplot treatment were barley or IRG with four seeding ratio of legumes (50:50, 60:40, 70:30, and 80:20). To estimate N fixation by legumes, 15N isotope dilution technique was used. 15N fertilizer [(15NH4)2SO4 solution at 99.8 atom N] was uniformly applied to 600 cm2 in the middle of each plot on April 15, 2007. Plots were harvest by hand on June 8, 2007. Dried sample were ground to a fine power and analyzed for total N isotope N. 15N was determined using elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The calculation of N transfer was determined with the isotope dilution method. The content of N was higher in legumes than that in barley or Italian ryegrass. Nitrogen level in forage pea was significantly higher than that of other legumes. There were significantly differences in N content between legumes in IRG mixture. Atom % 15N excess was significantly different in legumes with barley. The 60:40 sub plot had higher (p<0.05) atom % 15N than other seeding ratio treatments. The enrichment ranged from 0 to 0.58. Compared to barley, the enrichment of IRG with its accompanied legumes was higher, ranging from 0.38 to 1.0. The N derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa) ranged from 0% to 49.5% with barley-legume mixture. It ranged from 0 to 60.5% in IRG-legume plots. N transfer from legumes to neighboring grasses was 12.3 to 90.9 kg/ha for barley-legume mixture and 31.7 to 107.8 kg/ha for IRG plots. IRG plots showed higher N transfer for IRG-legume mixture in general based on difference method. Based on 15N dilution method, the N transfer was 0 to 36.1 kg/ha for barley-legume mixture and 0 to 50.6 kg/ha for IRG plots. There was a tendency toward higher N transfer on the difference method than that of the 15N dilution method.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of microbial culture supplements on ruminal fermentation and fermentative quality of Italian ryegrass silage (IRGS) both in vitro and in situ. Three species of microbes (Lactobacillus casei (LC), Bacillus subtilis (BS), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC)) were used in this study. They were applied to IRGS at 30 days after silage manufacture. Various items were measured using in vitro and in situ incubation technique after each microbial supplement was inoculated into IRGS at 0.5×104 CFU/g. In the first experiment, in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics of IRGS were evaluated at 0, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after microbes were inoculated into IRGS. In the second experiment, in situ fermentation characteristics were investigated at 0, 1, 3, and 5 days after the inoculation of each microbial supplement. In vitro ruminal NH3-N content was significantly (p<0.05) increased in LC-, BS-, and SC-IRGS at 12 hrs post incubation compared to that in control IRGS. In vitro ruminal total VFA concentration and dry matter digestibility (DMD) of IRGS were not significantly difference among LC-, BS-, and SC-IRGS, although they were numerically increased in LC-IRGS than those of the other IRGS. In addition, this study evaluated the fermentation characteristics and in situ DMD of IRGS with the lapse of incubation time up to 5 days. Throughout the incubation times from 1 day to 5 days, the pH value was significantly (p<0.05) lower in BS-, LC-, and SC-IRGS than that in control IRGS. Lactate was significantly (p<0.05) higher, and significantly (p<0.05) butyrate was lower in LC-IRGS than that in other treatments at 0 day. It was higher (p<0.05) in control IRGS than that of BS-, LC-, and SC-IRGS at 1-5 days. In situ DMD tended to increase in BS-, LC-, and SC-IRGS compared to that in control IRGS. Especially, DMD was higher in SC-IRGS than that in other treatments at 0 day. It tended to be higher in LC-IRGS at all incubation time. Taken together, these results suggest that it might be useful to select a microorganism by considering the feeding time of IRGS to ruminants because organic acids and DMD of IRGS were affected by the incubation time of each microorganism with IRG silage, especially for L. casei decreased the content of acetate and butyrate in IRGS.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of application levels of fertilizer and sowing methods on yields and nutritive values of Italian ryegrass (IRG) in early spring. Five fertilizer levels were used: Treatment 1, 100-80-80 kg/ha; Treatment 2, 120-100-100 kg/ha; Treatment 3, 140-120-120 kg/ha; Treatment 4, 160-140-140 kg/ha; Treatment 5, 140-120-120 kg/ha of N-P2O5-K2O with silicate fertilizer 200 kg/ha. Dry matter (DM) yield was 8,330 kg/ha in Treatment 5, 7,686 kg/ha in Treatment 4, and 7,347 kg/ha in Treatment 3. There was no significant difference in total digestible nutrients (TDN) content. The content of crude protein was the highest in Treatment 5. Dry matter ratio was the lowest in Treatment 5. In Treatment 3, DM yield was 7,347 kg/ha, when total amounts of fertilizers were applied at one time. However, DM yield was 7,405 kg/ha, when 50% of pre-planting fertilizer and 50% of supplementary fertilizer were applied at different time. There was no significant difference between total application and split application of fertilizers. However, DM yield was 9,469 kg/ha in application treatment with 100 kg/ha of additional urea at three to four leaf stages of IRG. Regarding DM yield by sowing methods of IRG, the following order was found: drill seeding (8,176 kg/ha) > rotary-broadcast seeding-stamping (7,957 kg/ha) > rotary-broadcast seeding (7,810 kg/ha) > broadcast seeding (7,347 kg/ha) > broadcast seeding-rotary (7,034 kg/ha). DM yield (59.57%) was the lowest in broadcast seedingrotary. Crude protein content was the highest with rotary work but the lowest with broadcast seeding.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of rainfall after cutting on nutritive value of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) hay. Fresh Italian ryegrass was treated with 3 days natural rainfall (56.5, 14.0 and 1.6 mm) after cutting without tedding. Rainfall effect on Italian ryegrass quality was evaluated based on Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF), crude protein (CP), crude fat (CF), crude ash (CA) and non-fiber carbohydrate (NFC). The quality of Italian ryegrass was decreased with extending raining days. The content of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was increased from 0.4 to 4.7% by 1 day advancement in raining. CF content was decreased from 8.1 to 32.8%. CP and CA contents did not change, but NFC content was decreased from 0.5 to 8.4%. The quality damage by the number of raining days after cutting Italian ryegrass was the lowest on the first day from exposure to rain.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of harvesting time of rice on growth characteristics and dry matter yields of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam., IRG) ‘Kowinearly’ after seeding them in paddy field. Experiments were performed in National Institute of Animal Science, RDA (Cheonan, Choongcheongnam-do province of Korea) for four years (2011~2014). Italian ryegrass variety ‘Kowinearly’ was seeded at experimental paddy fields before rice harvest in late September. Rice were harvested at 10, 20, and 30 days after seeding of IRG. As the harvest time of rice became later, the number of tillering before winter was reduced and IRG plant length before winter was shorter. The dry matter yield of IRG was also reduced. When rice were harvested at 20 days and 30 days after sowing of IRG compared to the rice harvested in autumn at 10 days after sowing of IRG, the number of tillering for IRG before winter was decreased by an average of 19% and 40%, respectively. The winter survival ratio of IRG was decreased by an average of 13% and 19%, respectively. Their dry matter yields were also reduced by an average of 8% and 19%, respectively. The heading date was different from each other in three years. The plant length at the time of IRG harvest in the spring was not significantly different among treatment groups. Taken together, our results suggest that when Italian ryegrass is grown in paddy fields by the method of ‘seeding of IRG before rice harvest’, rice should be harvested as soon as possible after sowing of IRG ‘Kowinearly’ in the autumn to increase forage productivity.

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics and dry matter yields of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam., IRG) cultivars for three years (2011~2013). The cold-resistance of domestic cultivars was stronger than other foreign varieties. Among early-maturing cultivars, dry matter (DM) yield of ‘Kowinearly’ was significantly higher (8,751 kg/ha) than other cultivars (p<0.05). In medium-maturing cultivars, DM yield of ‘Kowinmaster’ and ‘Tam 90’ was 9,394 and 7,461 kg/ha, respectively. Of the two, the former’s DM yield was higher than the latter’s (p<0.05). Among late-maturing cultivars, DM yield of ‘Hwasan 104’ (9,809 kg/ha) was similar to ‘Hwasan 101’ (9,354 kg/ha), but significantly higher than the other late-maturing cultivars (p<0.05). According to the results obtained from present study, early-maturing cultivars with cold-tolerance and high productivity is required for the paddy field cultivation of an Italian ryegrass cultivar after rice harvest in Cheonan region. Medium- and late-maturing cultivars are more advantageous for the dry field cultivation of the maximum quantity that is possible. In conclusion, to select which cultivar/s to grow, the climate of the growing area, weather conditions, and the cropping system must all be considered

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the moisture content and pellet mill type on the physical and chemical characteristics of Italian ryegrass (IRG) pellet. Moisture content of raw material significantly (p<0.05) affected IRG pellet formation. Moisture content at 25% was the best condition for IRG pellet formation in terms of shape, power load and temperature changes. The hardness of pellet was decreased when moisture content was increase. However, the hardness of pellet was not affected by pellet mill type. Moisture content at 30% dramatically (p<0.05) decreased the durability compared to moisture content at 25%. Dry matter content of IRG pellet was increased (p<0.05) after pelleting. Total count of microorganism was decreased in pellet due to pressure heat and moisture losses during the pelleting process. These results indicated that the proper moisture content of Italian ryegrass pelleting would be at 25%. In addition, Roll & flat die type would be more suitable than Ring die and Die & flat die type in IRG pelleting. Pelleting works would be beneficial for improving forage quality and long storage.

The objective of this study was to construct Italian ryegrass (IRG) dry matter yield (DMY) estimation models in South Korea based on climatic data by locations. Obviously, the climatic environment of Jeju Island has great differences with Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, many data points were from Jeju Island in the prepared data set. Statistically significant differences in both DMY values and climatic variables were observed between south areas of Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island. Therefore, the estimation models were constructed separately for south areas of Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island separately. For south areas of Korean Peninsula, a data set with a sample size of 933 during 26 years was used. Four optimal climatic variables were selected through a stepwise approach of multiple regression analysis with DMY as the response variable. Subsequently, via general linear model, the final model including the selected four climatic variables and cultivated locations as dummy variables was constructed. The model could explain 37.7% of the variations in DMY of IRG in south areas of Korean Peninsula. For Jeju Island, a data set containing 130 data points during 17 years were used in the modeling construction via the stepwise approach of multiple regression analysis. The model constructed in this research could explain 51.0% of the variations in DMY of IRG. For the two models, homoscedasticity and the assumption that the mean of the residuals were equal to zero were satisfied. Meanwhile, the fitness of both models was good based on most scatters of predicted DMY values fell within the 95% confidence interval.