Annual Diploid Ryegrass Seed

Plan it over two to three years. The year before, stop the resident ryegrass setting seed by spray-topping, cutting for hay or grazing hard. In the sowing year, cultivate after the break to germinate the local seed bank, knock the seedlings out with a non-selective herbicide, then sow certified Safeguard shallow at 8–15 kg/ha. Leave an unsown test strip at least 2 m wide and 5 m long, well inside the paddock. If plenty of local ryegrass comes up there, treat the paddock as a toxicity risk.

Break the cycle in the paddocks that feed your hay program. ARGT comes from a nematode and bacterium carried into ryegrass seed heads, and infected ryegrass stays toxic once dried into hay. Certified Safeguard is resistant to that nematode, so building it up in your pasture phases reduces the risk of export hay rejections due to ARGT. Pair it with seed-set control on resident ryegrass, and have hay containing ryegrass tested for ARGT risk before you sell or feed it.

Safeguard is our pick for short seasons. It is a very early heading diploid with significantly more dry matter than Wimmera and vigorous winter growth, so it can fill the winter gap when finishing sheep and cattle for early markets. It is rated from 350 mm of rainfall, grows on light sands through to heavy soils and has mild salinity tolerance. Sow 8–15 kg/ha on the break. As a bonus, it lowers the risk of annual ryegrass toxicity.

A self-seeding annual ryegrass is the practical answer, and Safeguard suits rocky, non-arable paddocks well. Its very early heading lets it set seed before the season finishes, so with good seed set it regenerates each autumn, and it is ARGT resistant. For a ready-made option, our Self Regeneration Mix is built on Safeguard with sub, balansa and rose clovers for lower rainfall areas. In the first year, take stock off or cut numbers back from September so plants can seed heavily.

Safeguard was bred out of Wimmera and keeps its self-seeding habit, but it is resistant to the nematode that carries annual ryegrass toxicity (ARGT); Wimmera is not. Safeguard is very early heading and grows significantly more dry matter than Wimmera. Wimmera is the traditional hardy, early maturing annual of southern cropping districts. It seeds heavily and regenerates readily, so plan grass control before going back to crop. Where ARGT is a known problem, we recommend certified Safeguard.

Certification is your assurance that the seed really is ARGT resistant. Non-certified seed is likely to be ARGT susceptible and may also carry herbicide resistance, which defeats the purpose of sowing it. Certified Safeguard is solely distributed in WA by IH Seeds. If you're relying on it to manage ARGT, keep your seed records and test regenerated paddocks in later years to confirm the bacterium is under control.

Finefeed is our late-heading diploid annual. It is fine leafed for quality, was selected for fast emergence and improved rust resistance, and gives high winter and outstanding spring dry matter yields for grazing, silage or hay. It needs 500 mm of rainfall or more and suits sands through to heavy soils, with mild low pH tolerance. Sow at 20–30 kg/ha. Being later flowering, it also pairs well with Amazon T tetraploid in a blend.

Graze it to build a big seed bank. Once plants can't be pulled out easily, at about six weeks, graze lightly, then rotationally when it is 10–15 cm high. Keep the paddock tightly grazed late into the season, then remove or cut back stock from early September, as Safeguard normally heads in early October. Return stock after seed set, once the pasture has dried off. Don't carry heavy residue into autumn, as too much ground cover can hold back germination.

Test it, because you can't judge annual ryegrass toxicity by looking at the pasture. Collect seed heads as they develop and send samples to DPIRD's Diagnostic and Laboratory Services for ARGT testing; results come back as a risk rating to guide grazing. In Safeguard paddocks with an ARGT history, test the mature ryegrass to confirm it's safe. If Wimmera has crept back, stop seed set, check stock daily through the risk period and move any affected animals quietly to safe feed.

Only if Safeguard dominates the stand. Biological control of ARGT relies on a high frequency of resistant genes in the pasture, so the aim is for Safeguard seed to greatly outnumber the local ryegrass seed bank. That's why you run the seed bank down the year before sowing and manage the first year for a heavy seed set. Safeguard and Wimmera plants are hard to tell apart in a regenerated pasture, so test the paddock in following years to confirm the bacterium is under control.