Mississippi Warm-Season Forage Crop Variety Trials, 2015

Varieties of forage crops are evaluated every year in small-plot trials conducted by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES). Seed is provided by seed companies and state universities and tested at one or more locations across Mississippi. All entries from privately owned companies are tested on a fee basis. Standard varieties may be added by MAFES as a reference for comparison purposes. In addition, varieties of interest may also be added when applicable. This report contains data collected from 2013–2015 for bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum). Seeded bahiagrass trials were evaluated only in Starkville and Poplarville, but due to poor stand establishment, the Starkville location was not used in data collection. Bahiagrass was planted at 20 pounds per acre and adjusted for pure live seed (PLS) according to each entry’s germination and purity percentage. Rainfall amounts during the 2015 growing season are presented in Table 1. Data presented in Tables 2–3 can be used to evaluate the performance of each forage variety within that test. Comparisons can be statistically evaluated by using the least significant difference (LSD). The LSD represents the amount of yield that must be observed between any two varieties to determine if the differences observed were due to variety variation alone.

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