Studies on the Culture of Italian Ryegrass sown in Mixtures with Legumes as Winter Crop on Paddy Fields : Report I. Selection of Legumes to be sown in Mixtures with Italian Ryegrass

Abstract

Italian ryegrass can be said a very excellent winter crop as a forage crop cultured on paddy fields because Italian ryegrass is adapted well for growing under heavy manuring condition and can be cut frequently with high yield. In order to clarify the significance of culture of such excellent grass in mixtures with legumes, the culture of Italian ryegrass was tested in the esta-blished plots shown in Table 1. As shown in Fig. 1, when sown early in mixtures under light manuring condition, Italian ryegrass shows higher yield than that when sown alone, while when grown under heavy manuring condition, Italian ryegrass sown in mixtures always shows no higher yield than that when sown alone. However, when sown early, even under light manuring condition, Italian ryegrdss sown in mixtures with common vetch or chinese milk vetch shows high yield without any significant difference from that of Italian ryegrass sown alone with heavy fertilizer. Consequently, though it is impossible for deeding in mixtures with legumes to gain higher yield than the case of Italian ryegrass sown alone with heavy fertilizer, it is possible to gain not less than yield under light manuring condition, thus saving the amount of fertilizer applied before seeding. Common vetch is recommended as suitable species for growing it in mixtures with Italian ryegrass because common vetch can be cut early in the spring. After the first cutting, common vetch shows no regrowth. It is, therefore, recommended that fertilizer be applied liberally, as in the case with Italian ryegrass sown alone with heavy fertilizer.