About Eire Seeds Carbon Grasses

Eire Seeds in collaboration with DLF bring you these revolutionary grass cultivars, the result of over 20 years research & development.

About DLF – ‘Seeds & Science’.

DLF is a global seed company with a 50% market share in Europe and 30% worldwide. They are the global market leader, providing grass and clover seeds to more than 100 countries.

DLF continuously invest heavily in the science &  laboratories with over 11% of their 2000 employees involved in research.

They run plant-breeding programs across the world to produce varieties that flourish in all conditions including harsh climates, on challenging soils, and for the most demanding and critical clients in the world.

CARBON CREDENTIALS

The ‘Carbon Grass’ studies commenced in 2005 at the DLF Seed Research Station at Les Alleuds in the Loire Valley.

Using well established grass plots (shown below), the initial aim was to identify differences in the carbon sequestration values of managed amenity grass species.

The study revealed SIGNIFICANT differences between species in their capacity to store and sequester carbon within the leaves, roots and soil profile when managed under exactly the same environmental conditions. Of particular note is the ability of red fescue not only to hold more carbon in it’s roots than other species, but also it’s inefficiency of transferring it into the soil; whereas perennial rye grass holds the least amount of carbon but is very efficient at carbon sequestration.

As the study progressed the focus was on individual cultivars within species, with new cultivars from the breeding programme entered into the study over time.

The differences in the efficiency of individual cultivars to sequester carbon proved to be significant and extensive insight & knowledge has been used to create the Eire Seeds Carbon Grass mixtures, combining increased levels of carbon sequestration potential with desirable amenity characteristics.