Geisha
Extremely palatable
GEISHA has a soft leaf that makes it extremely palatable. It has large cylindrical and prominent bulbs. It was bred by the ARC- RFI at the Cedara Centre in Pietermaritzburg. It is frost tolerant winter forage that has the ability to bulk up a large amount of highly nutritious forage per hectare. It has the benefit of filling the winter feed gap.
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It can survive on low levels of nitrogen fertilization. It should also be noted that for dry-land cultivation it is essential to start preparing the land at the beginning of the season. GEISHA must be planted early enough to ensure bulk before winter, but not so early that it will bolt to seed before winter. One should plant GEISHA in January in areas that normally experience the first frost in mid-April and early March in areas where the first frost occurs in May.
Samurai
Large bulbs
It is well known that Japanese Radish is a proven frost tolerant winter forage, and has the ability to bulk up a large quantity of highly nutritious forage per hectare. This feed can be utilised if need be in a single day or held for relatively long periods until required without a serious deterioration in quality.
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Radish is far less expensive than many other commonly used winter feeds in terms of costs per ton of D. M because for the dry matter yield potential, the seed and fertilizer costs are relatively low.
Nooitgedacht
Can be used in drier western regions
Useful as a late autumn/early winter feed in the cooler eastern areas of South Africa, depending on planting date. It may be used in the drier western areas, but would require supplementary irrigation. It can be effectively used as a fodder bank or strategic fodder source to supplement temperate grass pastures or foggaged tropicals.