This study was conducted at the National Institute of Animal Science from 2010 to 2017. As a variety that is sufficiently productive in the southern regions to replace imported varieties and sufficiently cold-resistant to be cultivated in the central-northern regions, "IR605" was developed and submitted to the Korea Seed & Variety Service in an application for protection. The novel Italian ryegrass variety "IR605" is a diploid with green leaves, a semi-erect growth habit before wintering, and an erect growth habit in the spring. "IR605" was a medium maturing variety with a heading date of around May 15th. "IR605" had a flag leaf width of 9.9 mm, flag leaf length of 26.7 cm, and plant length on the heading date of 100 cm, which was approximately 5 cm longer than "Kowinearly." The stem thickness and ear length of "IR605" are 0.08 mm thicker and 0.5 cm longer than those of "Kowinearly", respectively. The cold-resistance of "IR605" was weaker than that of "Kowinearly", but strong enough to be cultivated in Pyeongchang, Gangwon province. The dry matter yield of "IR605" (9,308 kg/hectare) was 20% higher than that of "Kowinearly", which was further pronounced in the southern region of Haenam, where there was a 52% increased (p < 0.05). The in vitro dry matter digestibility of "IR605" was 68.4% at which was slightly higher than that of "Kowinearly", The total digestible nutrients was 58.5%, which was slightly lower than "Kowinearly". Overall, the feed quality characteristics of "IR605" were similar to those of "Kowinearly".