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The strong and reliable Plantain

• Fast establishing

• Highest yielding variety

• Later flowering for increased late season quality

• High levels of Metabolisable Energy, Digestibility, Soluble Sugars

High trace element content

High water and nitrogen use efficiency

PVR registered, certified seed

Ideal as a summer/autumn finishing crop or in a pasture mix to increase pasture quality

Description

An erect plantain, which in cooler months has semi-prostrate growth preventing overgrazing, flowers significantly later than Tonic. Trials show Hercules is the greatest dry matter (DM) yielding plantain. Hercules produces a long and fibrous root system allowing the plant to draw moisture and minerals from deep within the soil. It has higher anthocyanin levels which make the minerals and nutrients more available to the rumen.

Key attributes

Hercules Plantain was selected for vegetative structure, flowering date and dry matter production. It was bred from NZ and European ecotypes.
Key attributes of Hercules include:

  • • High dry matter yield
  • • Perennial forage herb
  • • Later Flowering (28 days later than Tonic)
  • • Highly vegetative - even through the reproductive phase
  • • Highly palatable - even through the reproductive phase
  • • Deep tap root - increasing tolerance to dry conditions
  • • High feed quality
  • • High levels of key minerals (calcium, sodium, copper, selenium)
  • • Exceptional animal growth rates in summer and autumn
  • • High anthocyanin levels for increased stock health and performance (see below)

More Details

  • FLOWERING / HEADING DATE

    Hercules Plantain is very late flowering (latest flowering variety on the market). Its late heading/flowering date means that Hercules will put more of its late spring/summer growing energy into producing its highly palatable mineral rich leaf rather than less palatable seed head at this crucial stock performance period. This attribute gives stock grazing Hercules up to one month increased animal performance grazing highly palatable plantain rather than reproductive (seed, stem, head) material of all other earlier flowering varieties.

  • HIGH ANTHOCYANIN LEVELS

    Studies conducted by Plant Research (NZ) Ltd, looking into the anthocyanin levels of three plantain varieties showed that Hercules Plantain had significantly higher levels of anthocyanin than the other varieties tested. Anthocyanins are associated with increased animal performance and health benefits including antioxidant, analgesic, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory activities.

  • SUGGESTED SOWING RATE

    1 – 4 kg/ha in pasture of forage mix
    5 – 10 kg/ha as a stand-alone crop

  • PVR LISTED

    Hercules Plantain has been granted PVR status in New Zealand and Australia and is a certified variety.

Data


DRY MATTER (DM) YIELD DATA

Hercules has dry matter production superior to other plantain varieties on the market. Its high growth through spring, summer and autumn combined with its high feed quality through this period makes it the ideal summer forage crop for finishing lambs, or as an alternative to summer brassicas (turnip, rape etc) for dairy and other livestock in dry summer areas.


Graph on the left: Yield (kgDM/ha) of 3 Plantain varieties, Rakaia, Canterbury 2014. / / Graph on the right: Hercules 10% higher DM yield over 12 months.

Yield

Graph on the left: Trial conducted by Pasture First Ltd. / / Graph on the right: Trial was sown in October 2013, conducted by independent trial specialist Pasture First Ltd.

DENSE PLANT TISSUE

Hercules Plantain has demonstrated that it outyields other varieties at times when the visual height and bulk doesn’t necessarily look different or may even appear to be less. Its richer, darker green, dense leaf has high mineral content and is rumen available. This is an advantage to livestock, meaning less energy is consumed foraging.

FEED QUALITY

Feed quality analysis (Hill Laboratories) conducted in February 2014 shows that Hercules Plantain has high feed quality levels, providing high animal performance through summer and autumn.

Feed 1

Gallery

Gallery

  • reproductive

  • trials

  • Yield +

  • seedlings

  • Herbi-licous !

  • bags

  • mix 2

  • mix

  • Tonic early flowering

  • lambs

Our Client Testimonials

Hamish Jamieson

“We are extremely happy with the performance of the Hercules Plantain. It provides reliable summer and autumn feed and the lamb to very well on it”

Sheep breading, lamb finishing, dairy gazing, 360 ha

Kintyre Ltd, Taiko Valley, South Canterbury

James Daly

“We have taken over a 50/50 share milking contract and re-grassed two thirds of the property over the past 3 years. We have been incorporating Hercules Plantain in our pasture mixes and are very, very happy with the performance and the results”

650 cows, 170 ha

Dalcam holding Ltd, Rakaia, Mid Canterbury

Dan Chaffey

“Pareora Dairies sowed Hercules Plantain in some of the permanent pastures during the conversion phase. We are very happy with the performance of Hercules Plantain. it bounces back after grazing and we believe that it, along with clovers will play an important part in our swards in the future”.

920 cows, 242 ha.

Craigmore Station, Pareora Dairies, South Canterbury

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