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GRASSES

Rye vs. Ryegrass tional value much later in the season than rye. Annual rye-
grass is not closely related to wheat like rye and there are
Many people, understandably, are confused by the differ- herbicides that can take volunteer ryegrass out of wheat.
ence between rye and ryegrass. These two plants, despite Ryegrass comes in annual, biannual, and perennial forms,
the similarity in names, are not closely related and do not and even hybrids of annual and perennial varieties (inter-
behave alike. mediate ryegrass).
Rye (Secale cereal) is a cereal grain, closely related to So which is the better pasture or cover crop choice,
wheat, with which it can be crossed to form triticale. It is rye or ryegrass? Each has enough advantages that the
tall, has a course stem with a long seed head and contains answer is both.
grains that are approximately 25% smaller than wheat. Rye
is the most cold-tolerant grain crop known, and will pro- Elbon Cereal Rye
duce more growth during winter than any other crop. It is Elbon cereal rye was developed by the Noble Foundation
the last forage crop to freeze down in fall and the first to in Oklahoma and has a wonderful combination of winter
green up in spring, but is also the first cereal grain to get hardiness and fast growth. Elbon has a shorter dorman-
stemmy and unpalatable in spring. Rye is very tolerant of cy period than northern cereal rye and will give more fall
drought and sandy or low-fertility soil, but responds well to growth as well as earlier spring growth.
fertility. It does not like very wet soil. One drawback of rye
is that volunteer plants are hard to control in wheat fields if
allowed to go to seed.
Ryegrasses (Lolium multiflorum), on the other hand, are
true “grassy” plants, closely related to fescue with which it
can be crossed to form the hybrid called festulolium. The
seeds are small and fluffy, and are very hard to distinguish
from fescue seed. The leaves are erect, dark green, and very
shiny due to a waxy layer on the leaf surface.

It is excellent as a forage in early spring and will provide
some of the best weed suppression and erosion control well
into the early months of summer as a mulch. Elbon can be
planted late in the season into soils as cold as 34°F.

Cosaque Black Oats
Cosaque oats are a
black-seeded winter oat
with better nutritional
value, digestibility, palat-
ability, and tillering abil-
ity than traditional oats.
Forage yields are very simi-
Ryegrasses perform best in clay soils with good moisture, lar to cereal rye. Black oats
and tolerate wetter soils than any of the cereal grains. They have good winter hardiness
have fine leaves and do not get very tall compared to cere- and are commonly a winter
als. Annual ryegrasses form a dense root system that can annual in the south. Black
hold up animals and vehicles much better than cereals in oats can survive in very
wet weather. Ryegrass greens up later in spring than rye, poor-quality soil and help
but is much more grazing tolerant and grows later into the build the soil back through
summer than rye. It also keeps its palatability and nutri- its fantastic root system.

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