New High Grain Yielding Forage Rye Cultivar, Seedgreen

Seedgreen (Secale cereal L.), a new rye cultivar was developed by National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), RDA in 2013. It was developed from an open pollination from within 10 rye varieties or lines including Chochun in 1995. The line SR95POP-S1-140-9-1-3-7-5-3 was selected for its excellent agronomic appearance, and was placed in yield trials for three years from 2008 to 2010. The new cultivar was designated Homil50 and was placed in regional yield trials at the five locations around Korea from 2011 to 2013, during which time the name Seedgreen was given. This cultivar is an erect plant type and of a long size, with a dark-green leaf color, a yellowish-white colored, medium-diameter culm, and a brown-colored, medium-size grain. The heading and maturation dates of Seedgreen were April 22 and June 16, which were 3 days and 2 days earlier than that of Gogu, respectively. Seedgreen also showed better winter hardiness and a greater resistance to lodging and wet injury compared to those of the check cultivar. Over three years, the average dry matter yield of Seedgreen was 8.3 ton ha£­1 (fresh yield = 39.8 ton ha£­1), which was harvested in late April and was lower than that of the check cultivar Gogu. The seed productivity of Seedgreen was approximately 4 ton ha£­1, which was 16 % more than that of the check. Seedgreen was higher to than Gogu in term of protein content (10.5% and 9.7%, respectively), total digestible nutrients (TDN) (58.3% and 57%, respectively), and TDN yield ha£­1 (4.81 ton and 4.77 ton, respectively). This cultivar is recommended as a fall sowing crop in areas where the average daily minimum-mean temperatures are higher than minus12Celsius in January, and as a winter crop for whole-crop forage before the planting of rice or green manure around Korea.