BONNIE - A Future Top Choice For Sports Turf
A breeder’s work is no longer limited to developing varieties that are top performing on different country lists, but also to find varieties that can fit with changing environmental concerns and being able to adapt to differing climate conditions. After 15 years of intensive work, our breeders have developed the variety BONNIE. The new benchmark in perennial ryegrass and N°1 on the French list.
Breeding requires patience, hard work and foresight. It takes 15 years to develop a new variety, and our breeders must think ahead to make the perfect cross that will match with future market needs and requirements.
Climate change is pushing turf managers to develop more environmental friendly practices. Drought, heat and disease go hand in hand with climate change. Droughts appear more often for longer periods and earlier in the year. We face warmer seasons with long periods of extreme heat. New diseases are appearing and spreading to previously resistant species. This means that new varieties in the future should be able to tolerate heat, drought, disease, low inputs. And without forgetting wear tolerance and visual appearance.
From large leaved forage varieties, perennial ryegrass breeding has seen huge improvements over the last 40 years.
The progress that has been achieved with BONNIE has taken perennial ryegrass to another level. BONNIE is the result of crossing two top performing varieties, and it is the perfect mix between patience, hard work, sustainability and creativity.
It requires a lot for a variety to be on top of the French list. BONNIE has an outstanding visual appearance with its fine and dense leaves and a light color, ranking N°1 in several categories on the lawn index of the French list GEVES. Its density (7.8 in France) and finesse (7.7 in France) are similar to red fescue, so BONNIE can then easily mix with red fescues to create a turf with an incomparable nice looking visual appearance.
BONNIE also tops the list for sport (index 7,48). In addition to its unbelievable wear and tear tolerance (7.3 in France), BONNIE recovers from damage faster than other. With BONNIE you get more playing hours and the insurance to maintain a good visual aspect.
BONNIE is also an excellent ally in the fight against diseases. Not only being free of Deschlera leaf spot (9 in France), BONNIE has shown excellent performances in our grey leaf spot and brown patch screening. A disease tolerant variety helps to reduce input consumption, reduce costs and improve wear tolerance.
To top it all BONNIE is also being drought and heat tolerant and has the ability to stay greener with less water, and also to recover fast after stressful periods, which are important criteria in order to maintain a good looking turf all year round.