News
3/2-12
Best friend of
Carbon Footprint
Do you know that the annual
oxygen production and carbon
dioxide fixation from one hectare
of natural turf exeeds that of
one hectare of forest?
Read more about this in the Professional turf newsletter
31/1-12
Increase your profit with grass/legume
The economically optimal feed diet depends on various parameters; mainly on
the potential yield level of maize, clover grass and Lucerne and on the actual
prices on concentrates.
Read more about how you can increase your profit by having the right grass/legume balance in Forage Newsletter
26/1-12
Three good reasons to rely on natural turf!
Being by far the most sustainable, environmentally-and carbon-friendly option, natural turf releases less greenhouse gases and thus contributes in cutting the carbon footprint. Playing on natural grass also reduces the players’ stress levels and even heart rate. European Seed Association (ESA) supports natural turf for football, sports and playing surfaces. Last but not least, natural turf also saves local sports clubs a significant amount of money.
In its recently published report entitled “Natural Turf: Why it remains the natural choice for football, sports and playing surfaces”, ESA targets key decision makers at the municipality level who are responsible for sport facilities. The aim is to inform them about all aspects of both natural and artificial turf - and to encourage them to “go green” and opt for the natural choice.
Visit the ESA webpage http://www.euroseeds.org/home to read the press release and access the full content.
16/1-12-3/2-12
We are pleased to announce that DLF-TRIFOLIUM in the Netherlands has hired Jo Hillewaert as Export Area Manager.
Jo is 42 years and has held several sales positions within various multinational companies in the food processing and packing industry.
Jo has an extensive international sales experience including 9 years of working and living abroad (Luxemburg, China and South-Africa).
After an intensive training and introduction program, Jo is going to be responsible within the DLF NL Export Team for sales to wholesale customers in Portugal, Spain and France.
16/1-12 - 31/1-12
Masterline Newsletter
4turf Perennial Ryegrass with extra power
Tretraploids are well known from forage grass situation and give extra power for yield and stress tolerance. DLF-TRIFOLIUM has managed to duplicate these benefits in genuine turf types of Perennial Ryegrass.
Read more about in Masterline Newsletter
5/1-12
Entering 2012, it is a great pleasure for DLF-TRIFOLIUM to present our new grass breeder, Anders Søndergaard Larsen, who will enter the team at Danish Plant Breeding, Store Heddinge.
Anders is 34 years old and has a Master of Science in management of forestry and natural resources from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen. He also holds a Ph.D. degree in plant genetics from Copenhagen University, Faculty of Life Sciences. During the last year he has been working on the potential of grasses for bioenergy production as post-doc at Aarhus University, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology. The employment of Anders is a part of a generational change at the breeding station in Store Heddinge as our turf grass breeder Niels Christian Nielsen is planning to end his long career in the second half of 2012.
23/12-11 - 31/1-12
Stress Tolerance – Extractions from a Genetic Potential
How do you capture the genetic potential for stress tolerance that is safely hidden in the grass DNA code?
Read about how we do it…
22/12-11-16/1-12
In prep for future greens premium varieties
If you want to have a glimpse of what will become the future’s most exquisite greens varieties you might want to drop by DLF TRIFOLIUM’s Research Division in Denmark and have a look at their newly established greens. Read more
17/11-11 - 22/12-11
During the Russian Agricultural Exhibition "Golden Autumn 2011", the scientific work titled "Forage Production Efficiency of DLF-TRIFOLIUM grass mixtures in conditions of Black Earth Region" was nominated for an award in the category: Production of high quality forages and forage additives. This work received the bronze medal and a diploma signed by the Russian Minister of Agriculture and the Governor of Moscow.
No doubt this award is a confirmation of the best results obtained by farms in the Black Earth Region (Kursk, Orel, Lipetsk, Voronezh) and ForageMax mixtures adapted for the Russian climatic conditions were used for the project. The project was carried out in close cooperation with Kursk State Agricultural Academy, and our cooperation with Research and Study Agricultural Academies in Russia continues to expand every year.
8/11-11 - 20/12-11
Cuts in carbon foot print and cost and health benefits are some of the arguments that count in favour of natural turf when choosing between natural and artificial grass for new sports areas. Added to this, the strong improvements achieved in the breeding of natural grass make the choice less difficult.
Read more about this in the new brochure worked out by ESA.
27/10-11 - 17/11-11
Most football tournaments are taking place till late in the autumn and start very early in the spring. This does not always fit with the growing seasons of grasses. Russia has adapted to the European season of tournaments, so it is obvious that there is a challenge with the low temperatures.
Click here to read about the solution to this problem.
26/10-11 - 23/12-11
New Turfline design
We proudly present to you the new Turfline® packaging design. Based on market demands, a QR code is printed on the new Turfline® packaging that will provide you with a film on how to establish and maintain a lawn or see the film here.
21/10-11 - 8/11-11
More milk per ha from young grass
In a typical grass field the yield decreases with the age of the sward. This is a natural consequence of climate, intensive use and the ageing of plants. Weed grasses time after time takes over from the high productive sown species and varieties. Reseeding is the most effective way of renewing grassland – and the investment is normally paid back many times. DLF-TRIFOLIUM has developed a simple calculator to estimate the benefits of a new grass field compared to the old one.
Click here to try the new calculator.
19/10-11 - 5/1-12
DLF-TRIFOLIUM has just released a new film describing the many benefits from regular overseeding in grass fields. Click on the image to see the film.
11/10-11 - 21/10-11
Price nomination of 4turf
At Demo Dagen in Holland, Top Green was nominated for the Papendal Sportfacilities Innovation price 2011 for the 4turf concept. DLF has won and been nominated for other prices during the last months.
Read more about it in Prograss.
10/10-11 - 27/10-11
To keep pace with population growth it is estimated that in the next 40 years food production must equal the amount produced over the last 12,000 years, and it must be achieved in the face of climate change, limited land, water and fossil fuels. Through plant breeding the seed industry has met and will continue to meet the challenge of increasing agricultural production.
See video from ISF - Agriculture is under Pressure
27/9-11 - 11/10-11
Tough grasses for new motorway project
When you are driving the new Danish motorway in Southern Jutland heading from Kliplev to Sønderborg, the roadsides will accompany the beautiful landscape in a perfect way. 26 km of roadsides will be established with grasses and herbage species especially adapted to the given growth conditions and will provide the motorists an esthetical pleasure. Read more about the project here
26/9-11
In forage we are talking about feeding quality and yield, words which definitely apply when looking at the features of the following forage varieties:
White Clover SILVESTER.
Perennial Ryegrass GENESIS.
Hybrid Ryegrass TETRAGRAZE, SCAPINO.
Tall Fescue TOWER.
Worthy of special mention this year is the White Clover variety SILVESTER with an outstanding combination of winter hardiness and yield. Click on the varieties and get further information.
26/9-11 - 19/10-11
New quality turf varieties for this season
The unique variety to mention is DOUBLE which is featured in our tetraploid 4TURF range. We predict the combination of highest stress tolerance - including salt tolerance, added germination power and dark colour will make DOUBLE one of the most desired varieties in the coming years. Click on the variety and get further information.
16/9-10/10-11
2011 was a challenge for seed production in Europe
The European clover and grass seed harvest began in the end of June, and still - 2½ months later – seed fields remain to be combined. Spring drought and excessive rainfall in July and August has generally had a negative impact on seed yields. Furthermore, new sowings for harvest 2012 experience a lot of adversity due to wet fields having structure damages from the harvest process. The frequent and heavy rains in some of the most concentrated production areas is making establishment of new seed crops for harvest 2012 difficult. This situation indicates a continous shortage in supply in Europe, due to the balance between supply and demand.
12/9-27/9-11
”It’s all in the genes” – we all know it – all the stuff that controls any valuable trait. For decades breeders at DLF-TRIFOLIUM have made crosses, recorded field scores, and selected varieties with the best traits based on this knowledge. But soon it will be possible to utilise the genomic potential to an even greater extent than today. The technology, which is called Genome Wide Selection (GWS) has already revolutionised animal breeding since its introduction. Now the time has come for grass. Read more.
8/9-11 - 26/9-11
With steadily increasing energy prices many countries are shaping their agricultural systems for intensive bioenergy production. The downside of this development is a strong pressure on the areas available for feed and food production. As an alternative, DLF-TRIFOILUM is now looking into using marginal soils for grass biomass production in collaboration with several other companies and research institutions joined in a €4M EU project "GrassMargins".
Read more.
30/8-11 - 12/9-11
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DLF-TRIFOLIUM - in cooperation with a greenkeeper school and a distributor - held a seminar for greenkeepers at Tseleevo golf club in Moscow on 25 August, 2011. The programme for the seminar included presentation of the DLF golf portfolio, features of grass maintenance of low input and visit to demo trials which were established one year ago. |
The greenkeepers showed great interest in our varieties and recommendations for greens with low input. One of the participants, Sergey Ivanov, greenkeeper at Moscow golf club “Nine”, said:
“It is good that we now have the possibility to compare high-quality golf varieties and choose the best ones. After my visits to these demo trials, I have chosen COBRA NOVA Creeping Bent for overseeding of our greens, because the variety is very dense and rapid establishing.”
Click here to see the whole DLF Golf Portfolio.
12/8-16/9 11
Having trouble defeating Poa annua on your golf green?
Simply turn up the slender fine fescue content and start winning your combats. Read more.
5/8-11 - 26/9-11
Green grass for green roofs
The growing interest in green roofs is not only due to the fact that green grass and other herbs are beautiful to look at compared to bitumen or fiber-cement boards, but equally due to the fact that it can retain large volumes of rain water.
Read more about the construction of green roofs here.
28/7-11 - 12/8-11
Kick-off for DLF-TRIFOLIUM-DANONE cooperation in Russia
A kick-off training course for Danone employees was recently held in the Smolensk region. Here specialists from DLF-TRIFOLIUM introduced advisors from Danone into good grassland management under Russian conditions. 
- This training program is part of our newly initiated cooperation with Danone. We see our two companies fitting very well together - both working to optimize the output of milk production on Russian Dairy Farms, says Steen Andersen, head of the DLF-TRIFOLIUM Moscow office.
The French based dairy Danone holds a strong position in Russia where they run a large number of dairies in various regions. Feeding experts from Danone have until now been advising farms concerning the best feeding plan for the dairy herd, but now grassland management is also included as a new part of their service.
27/7-2011
Microclover® feedback from USA
Microclover® has proven to be beneficial and from two of DLF International Seeds's customers we have received great feedback.
"The clover flourished quickly with just water every other day. Once it grew in, it took little or no maintenance and looked great," says Richard Bolt, MD from Big Canoe in Georgia, USA.
"Testing Microclover® at the Little Rock Zoo, Arkansas, USA we discovered that the wear-ability is strong. Strong enough for our 6,200 pounds elephant, Ellen, to walk on daily." says JJ Muehlhaussen, Work Controller Tech of Little Rock Zoo.
Read more about this in the new Prograss June 2011
6/7-11 - 5/8-11
DLF initiated trial fields in 2009 together with Kursk State Agricultural Academy in Russia in order to develop forage mixtures especially for Hot&Dry conditions. Included in the trials were CutMax Alfa Protein and CutMax Alfa Protein Hot&Dry. During 2010 - in spite of huge drought - we got 3 cuts and the two mixtures were very high yielding: 43t and 45t of green mass, respectively.
This year we experienced a fast re-growth of Cocksfoot and Lucerne during April and May allowing very impressive cuts already in the middle of May: 22t and 24t of green mass, respectively.
During Field Days in the beginning of June, participants were pleasantly surprised that the DLF Cocksfoot varieties looked less aggressive than normal. Cocksfoot certainly has a role to play in mixtures for Hot&Dry conditions.
6/7-11 - 30/8-11
The new edition of Seed Varieties includes a significant number of new varieties of forage and turf.
Forage:
The major improvement is a common relative scale for lateness (heading). It allows comparing across species to optimise choice of straight varieties or to compose mixtures.
Turf:
Most species now have a column showing the relative level of salt tolerance compared to average for the species. Finally, you will find some new species and several small improvements across the brochure.
Download the new edition of Seed Varieties.
5/7-11 - 28/7-11
The number of golf courses in Russia is increasing and DLF-TRIFOLIUM has therefore established trials with bent grasses and started cooperation with a greenkeeper school in Moscow.
Read more about this in the new edition of Prograss.
5/7-11 - 27/7-11
Download the latest edition of Prograss
14/6-11 - 27/7-11
Our laboratories get the quality stamp
Our Danish seed laboratories in Odense, Randers and Roskilde have been awarded with the ISTA re-accreditation for the next three years. It has been 10 years since the seed laboratories were accredited for the first time.
Audits every three years check whether the sampling is done correct, the equipment has the correct calibration, germination cabinets checked and the laboratory technicians are interviewed about operational procedures. In short, EVERYTHING is reviewed. The result of the extensive audit was that there were only found minor discrepancies at the three laboratories, which are virtually sovereign in relation to the standard.
The re-accreditation means that laboratories can continue to perform ISTA tests for documentation of seed purity, germination and weed content.
8/6-11 - 5/7-11
The U21 European Football Championship starts on June 11th, and the turf is ready and trimmed for the tournament in Denmark. DLF-TRIFOLIUM is grass supplier to the majority of the Danish Superliga stadiums, including the stadiums in Herning, Viborg, Aalborg and Aarhus where the tournament will take place. Learn about the preparations to ensure the pitches are perfect. Read more.
24/5-11 - 6/7-11
The Grassland event at Stoneleigh was a huge success for DLF UK. There was great interest in our new festuloliums as these cultivars had come through very cold winter weather and a very cold, dry spring with virtually no rainfall on the site of the show. PERSEUS and LOFA attracted the most comments, standing proud and disease free where many standard ryegrasses were suffering drought stress and disease build up. The question of if these varieties are more tolerant of adverse conditions was emphatically answered in the positive.
The plots of Autumn and Spring sown iSeed® treated seed were another talking point as the difficult climatic conditions clearly illustrated the benefits of readily available nutrient on the seed coat. Even though the spring sown plots struggled to establish, a marked difference could still be seen to underline the benefit of this concept.
17/5-11 - 24/5-11
Festulolium on exhibition
Considering Festuloliums as a single entity could see farmers miss out on the potential these grass varieties have to offer in a range of situations.
“Our trials show Festuloliums can provide 10% to 50% more forage when included in a mixture”, says Tim Kerridge, “but it’s important to choose the right one for the specific situation.”
DLF-TRIFOLIUM has now put the Festuloliums it offers into three categories:
· Advanced Italian Ryegrass
· Advanced Hybrid Ryegrass
· Advanced Tall Fescue
Visitors to Grassland & Muck will be able to see and discuss the three types of Festuloliums both on the DLF stand and on the Oliver Seeds stand, where the Festuloliums are featured in actual seeds mixtures.
16/5-11 - 14/6 -11
We are happy to announce, that Dr. Martin Muller (33) has joined the DLF - TRIFOLIUM Hladké Životice station. He will replace Ing. Vladimir Piskoř (63), who wants to retire after 40 years work on the station.
Dr. Martin Muller has graduated from the Mendel University in Brno, specializing in fodder production, with eight years´experience of working in consulting companies in the field of animal nutrition and agriculture. He will be responsible from 1st of July 2011 for the management of our cleaning station, production and certification of seed and seed mixtures. Martin speaks German and English.
We wish Martin welcome and good luck and expresses our gratitude to Vladimir Piskoř for his hard work on the station.
27/4-11 - 16/5-11
ForageMax Newsletter
Increased prices in the forage grass seeds markets.
High productivity of the forage pasture
The recent winter has put a lot of pressure on the pastures. Snow coverage for several months has encouraged attacks of the snow mould fungus.
Read more about it in the latest ForageMax Newsletter
29/3-11 -17/5-11
ESA, The European Seed Association, have send out a press release. It concludes, that the grass wholesale prices have increased strongly over the past months due to a strong demand, a limited production and decreasing inventories.
Read more
29/3-11 - 6/7-11
New Tall Fescues and Perennial Ryegrasses varieties bring DLF-TRIFOLIUM to the top of the French Official Turf List.
Read more.
24/3-11 - 8/6-11
Positive market trends - Read the latest Prograss
Looking at sales volumes in grass seeds, the new season has kept speed at a high level. In the first six months of 2011, consumption has been markedly better than both 2009 and 2008.
10/3-11 - 24/3-11
Grass seed prices will increase
It is a fact that grass seed prices are affected by grain prices, the stock size and the financial state of the market. As a consequence, we are bound to see increasing grass seed prices in the near future. Market Analyst, specialised in Foods and Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Mr Henning Otte Hansen, has prepared a report on the subject. Read more
7/3-11 - 30/3-11
Turfline Water Less
We have expanded the Turfline range with the new mixture Turfline Water Less. With Turfline Water Less the lawn stays green even during drought without irrigation. The species in Turfline Water Less will always secure the very best cover of fresh, green and soft grass - ready for pleasure and relaxation. Read more here.
7/3-11 - 27/4-11
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World market price-level for fertilisers as well as for grain and protein crops are at the moment relatively high and it seems, that we in the future will have to live with these fluctuating prices. For the dairy or beef farmer this means higher expenses for buying concentrates and fertilisers, resulting in a more vulnerable economy. |
The farmers answer to this is self sufficiency – as much as possible of the feed needed must be produced on the farm. This will normally be a cheaper solution than buying concentrate and it takes off some of the uncertainty in the changing market prices for cereals, soya etc. With legumes like Lucerne and clover extra protein as well as nitrogen can be produced on farm.
Read more about the DLF solutions for higher on farm protein output here.
22/2-11 - 7/3-11
More cities in France are putting back their tramways in urban transport system, that they removed in 1960.
The reasons for this are obvious:
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Reducing pollution and greenhouse gasses
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Reduction in the consumption of hydrocarbon fuels in the cities
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Ensuring sustainable development with fewer cars in cities
The use of turfgrass between the rails has many advantages. It reduces water runoff, absorbs noise, reduces pollution, absorbs CO ² and converts it to oxygen, has a cooling effect and of course, looks attractive.
DLF-TRIFOLIUM supplies grass seeds for sod producers. The areas between the rails are covered with turfgrass, except where there traffic crosses the rails. In round numbers 1 ha of turf are used for every 1.5 km rail line. Read more
22/2-11 - 7/3-11
When the going gets tough - the tough get going
DLF-TRIFOLIUM takes its varieties to severe and devastating salt tolerance tests. Read how we pick the survivors for future climate extremes, here.
16/2-11 - 11/3-11
Top Quality Turf Evaluation Goes Digital
Good looking, dense, and green turf varieties do not come easily. It takes several rounds of careful evaluation and selection.
See how our US breeding team has spiked the process performance by introducing digital imaging.
read more.
31/1-11 - 7/3-11
New Masterline 2011
Masterline
- the Professional Choice
We have just released the new Masterline brochure. In this edition you can read more about:
• Improved Turf Quality with iSeed®
• Lower inputs, higher quality with Microclover ®
• Better turf quality after stress with our new 4TURFTM concept – tetraploids for turf
click the picture to view the brochure
