New Findings on Seed Rates in Sown Grass Farming

Field experiments conducted in the GDR over several years have shown that it is possible to considerably reduce seed rates specific to pure stands of valuable forage grasses. This allows to arrive at almost optimal plant spacing. On account of these findings, the seed rates for mixed and pure grass stands in commercial grass farming in the GDR were reduced to an optimum of 16-20-24 kg/ha. In view of the hitherto common seed rates of 30-40 kg/ha, this practice has allowed to save substantial amounts of grass seeds and to cut costs.