PERSISTENCE RESEARCH

Some of the most significant data has come from a persistence study conducted at the Ames Plantation in SW Tennessee where a comparison grazing study was conducted with Persist and a well-known orchardgrass.  Both varieties were planted in separate pastures, with and without clover.

SUMMARY:

After an intense drought and stressed period in 1999, two years after the began, there was a dramatic difference in the performance of the two cultivars.  The other variety simply could not handle or recover from the stress. Persist, on the other hand, continued to not only survive, but to provide good, healthy stands of grass, even when the clover died out in the third year.

OBSERVATIONS:

The following are the recorded observations of the University of Tennessee research team:

Spring 1997 - All pastures seeded in pure stand of orchardgrass are well established, with no visible difference with regard to variety.  The grass is too tall and the stands too thick to make quantitative estimates. All the orchardgrass-clover mix pastures have about the same grass-clover ratio.Spring 1998 - The orchardgrass-clover pastures have about 50:50 ratio of grass-clover. Pure orchardgrass pastures appears to be equal.

Summer 1999 - One of the Persist-clover and one of the other variety/clover pastures has a decrease in clover to about 30%.  The clover in one of the Persist pastures has increased to about 60%.

Fall 1999 - All pastures show drought stress. Pastures with clover appear better than those with orchardgrass as a pure stand.  Pastures with Persist in a pure stand are superior to those with the other variety in a pure stand.

Spring 2000 - Persist pastures in pure stand have a good stand of grass. The other variety pastures in pure stand are thin and have little available grass. The other variety pastures with clover have a loss of grass.  The grass in these pastures appear stressed and are not as green as those with Persist.

Fall 2000 -  Clover has been lost in all pastures that were originally seeded with clovers.  Orchardgrass stands are approximately 70-80% in Persist Pastures seeded without clover and 0-10% in the other variety's pastures seeded without clover.

Spring 2001 -  Stands of Persist in pastures seeded without clover is about 80%.  The stands of the other variety (also seeded without clover) are less than 10%.

NEW DATA: In 2007 Persist was planted at 5 trial sites throughout Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on the far east side of Canada. Data was collected for three years. Using a series of statistical calculations, the researchers evaluated Persist and the other entries to determine persistence. The value generated from these calculations is then used to help determine if the entered varieties would be approved for sale in Canada. It is also a measurement they use to compare varieties to one another, even if they were tested in different years.

RESULTS? Not only did Persist pass the test with flying colors and is now approved for sale in Canada, but Persist's "Percent Persistence" score is now the HIGHEST of all the commercial varieties entered in their trials since 1990!

Now you know why we say, “Plant for Keeps!”