Oat cultivars of tall (West), intermediate (Mortlock) and dwarf height (Echidna) were compared for their response to sowing time, nitrogen fertilizer and seed rate. Experiments were carried out in the 500-800 mm average annual rainfall zone in Western Australia at nine sites. Cultivars were compared in experiments involving different times (3) of sowing, levels (5) of applied nitrogen and rates (5) of seed and in another experiment including all combinations of two levels of sowing time, nitrogen and seed. The optimum sowing times for the three cultivars were similar, but the yield advantage for Echidna over West was 0.63 t ha-1 for late May sowing but only 0.25 t ha-1 for sowing in late July. Yield responses to applied nitrogen were dependent on soil nitrogen status, seasonal rainfall, sowing date, cultivar and seed-rate. On average, Echidna was more responsive (0.42 t ha-1) to the initial 30 kg ha-1 of nitrogen than Mortlock (0.23 t ha-1). The optimum seed rate (where an increase of 1 kg of seed increased yield by 10 kg ha-1) was 77, 67 and 61 kg ha-1 for Echidna, Mortlock and West corresponding to 225, 185 and 160 plants m-2. The largest yielding combination of cultivar, time of sowing, nitrogen and seed rates increased yields by from 1.32 to 3.23 t ha-1 (51-220%) compared to the control or low input treatment. Biomass at heading increased linearly to about 6.5 t ha-1 with rainfall up to 200 mm. Rainfall to heading in excess of 200 mm appeared to be inefficiently used for biomass production. Grain yields also increased linearly up to about 4 t ha-1 with increasing biomass at heading and up to 6 t ha-l with the correct choice of cultivar, time of sowing, nitrogen and seed rates.

SUMMARYStudies were conducted to elucidate the nature and cause of the drastic losses of live weight of cattle grazing buffel grass pastures after first rains at the end of the dry season in northern Australia. This paper examines trends in weight and body composition during the dry and early wet seasons; it shows that although most of the loss in fasted live weight occurred just after first rain, most of the loss of body solids, mainly fat, had already occurred by this time. Losses of body solids in the dry season were not fully reflected in live-weight losses because of increases in total body water and in gut ‘fill’. The greatly accelerated weight loss in the period following first rain appears to have been due mainly to a large reduction in gut contents. Empty-body weight actually increased during this period owing to increases in tissue water. Continuation of this trend in tissue water into the early wet season resulted in the rate of live-weight gain greatly exceeding that of body solids.

The results of six experiments on growing cattle weighing 140-480 kg, and with liveweight gains of -0-46 to 1-11 kg/day, were reanalysed to provide estimates of their phosphorus (P) requirements. The 158 data sets were from individually penned cattle offered barley straw-based diets ad libitum with dry matter digestibilities of 0-53-O-65, or from cattle grazing tropical pastures with in vitro dry matter digestibilities ranging from 0-50 to 0-62. Various concentrations of dietary energy, nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca) and P were imposed during the course of the experiments with the penned cattle and various rates of application of P fertilizer changed the botanic and nutrient composition of the forages available to the grazing cattle. The P balances and P kinetics of the cattle were studied using 32 P as a tracer. Over the range of P intakes normally observed in cattle consuming forage diets (10-60 mg/kg LW), the coefficient of P absorption was high and not affected by age or liveweight. The regression coefficient relating P intake to P absorption was 0-77 for unsupplemented grazing cattle and 082 for penned supplemented cattle. When the plasma inorganic P concentrations were < 50 mg/1, urinary P excretion of the penned cattle was low, as were the endogenous faecal P losses of both the penned and grazing cattle. These losses were concluded to represent obligatory losses and were related to dry matter intake (r = 0-73) in the range 9-17 mg P/kg LW.The total P requirements of growing cattle were estimated as g/day and g/kg DM intake from this data. The requirements of cattle consuming forage diets were 40-50% lower than those published by the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC 1991), even though the same equation for the net requirements for growth was utilized.

The determination of feed phosphorus content using oesophageally fistulated cattle is reported in this paper, from an experiment in which salivary phosphorus was labelled with 32 P.An intravenous infusion of Na a 32 PO 4 to cattle produced an immediate increase in the specific activity of salivary phosphorus, which then fell rapidly to an essentially linear asymptote by 3 h after the infusion. The phosphorus content of consumed feed was calculated from the degree of reduction in salivary specific activity by the feed phosphorus, expressed as the ratio of the specific activities of bolus and saliva phosphorus.A dose of 100 /tCi 32 P allowed the accurate prediction of phosphorus content ranging from 0'07 to 0-25 % in various feeds, at intervals from 3 to 24 h after the infusion; the predicted and actual phosphorus concentrations were highly correlated (r = 0-95).

SUMMARYFollowing the measurement of tritiated water (TOH) spaces, 31 cattle were slaughtered and chemically analysed in this study. They included several breeds, both females and castrate males, and were of varied nutritional history. Their body-fat content ranged from 4 to 21% of fasted live weight.Total body water (including the water in the gut contents) was reliably estimated from TOH space, measured after allowing an overnight 16 h waterless fast for TOH equilibration. Following this regime, residual D.M. in the gut contents amounted to 1·75% of fasted live weight. The relationships of body fat to body weight, and body fat to body water when both were expressed as percentages of body weight, were too variable to be used in any predictive fashion. Equations were derived, using fasted live weight, allowing the accurate estimation in vivo of the quantities of the chemical components in the whole body (i.e. total body minus D.M. in gut contents).It was demonstrated that the sum of total body water and total body fat constituted virtually 80% of total body tissues, and that total body protein closely approximated 80% of the fat-free dry matter, in cattle varying widely in body condition. These relationships constitute the physiological basis of the equations presented.Comparable principles appear to apply to sheep, and a range of other mammalian species.