Ear Emergence of Different Grass Species Under Finnish Growing Conditions

Timothy is the most commonly cultivated grass species in Finland. Swards cultivated for silage of hay are of pure timothy or timothy is the dominant species of the mixture. Successful timing of harvesting of the primary growth is very critical in Northern latitudes where the stand develops very rapidly at daylengths of above 18 hours with a daily mean temperature close to 20 °C. The primary growth has to be harvested within a very short period to obtain a yield of high and uniform quality. Short harvesting periods require high capacity harvest machinery which lead to high costs. If it would be possible to prolong the harvesting over a longer period of time, it would decrease the risk of bad weather conditions and reduce machine costs through better utilization of harvesting capacity. Sowing different grass species makes it possible to extend the harvesting period. The aim of this study was to investigate timing of ear emergence of different grass species in comparison with timothy. The suitable harvesting time for silage in Finland is closely related to ear emergence of the stand