Benefits of mixing grasses and legumes for herbage yield and nutritive value in<scp>N</scp>orthern<scp>E</scp>urope and<scp>C</scp>anada

Sturludóttir, Erla; Brophy, Caroline; Bélanger, Gilles; Gustavsson, Anne‐Maj; Jørgensen, Marit; Lunnan, Tor; Helgadóttir, Á.

doi:10.1111/gfs.12037

Cited by 104 publications

(122 citation statements)

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“…In the current study, greater TDM was measured in the L cuneata legume plot whereas the lowest TDM yield was recorded in the control plot. This finding is in agreement with the study of (Sturludottir et al [17]) that was conducted in Northern Europe and Canada which, reported higher yield in the legume-grass mixtures than monoculture treatments. The authors reported that on average, the legume-grass mixture plots had 9%, 15% and 7% more DMY than the most productive monoculture in the first, second and third year respectively.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Effect of Grass-legume Intercropping on Dry Matter Yield and Nutritive Value of Pastures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Gulwa¹,

Mgujulwa²,

Beyene³

2017

ujar

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The Eastern Cape Province, South Africa is faced with inadequate quantity of livestock feed especially during the drier (winter) seasons. Forage legumes were over sown into natural grasses to determine their potential to improve feed quality and quantity. Four forage legumes namely: Trifolium vesiculosum (Arrowleaf clover), Lespedeza cuneata (sericea lespedeza) , Trifolium repens (white clover) and Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil) were intercropped with native grasses in the old arable land located in Lushington communal area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The treatments consisted of natural grasses growing in pure stands and native grasses intercropped with forage legumes grown under rain-fed conditions. Grasses and legumes were harvested for dry matter yield (DMY) once in spring 2013 (September-November), summer 2014 (December-February), autumn 2014 (March-May) and winter 2014 (June-August). Amongst the legumes, L. cuneata was more (P<0.05) productive than rest of the legumes. However, T. vesiculosum was the least (P<0.05) productive legume during the four seasons. Total dry matter (TDM) yield was higher (P<0.05) during summer and lower during winter seasons, respectively. Grasses harvested in autumn had the highest (P<0.05) 12% crude protein (CP) than those harvested in winter which, had the lowest 4.6% CP content. Similarly, all legume pastures harvested in spring had superior (p<0.05) 10.8% CP, while those harvested in winter had the least 3.5% CP. Likewise, forages harvested during the wet seasons (i.e. autumn and or summer) had improved (P<0.05) herbage micro nutrient content than those harvested in the drier (winter) season. Results of the study indicated that overall total dry matter yield of grass-legume mixtures was higher than that of sole natural grasses, with grasses constituting the major component of the herbage yield. Results from this study also indicated that forages produced in wetter seasons had superior biomass yield and nutritive value, respectively.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Effect of Grass-legume Intercropping on Dry Matter Yield and Nutritive Value of Pastures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Gulwa¹,

Mgujulwa²,

Beyene³

2017

ujar

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“…Previous research has established that the species composition of mixtures is more important than the richness (Deak et al, 2007;Sanderson, 2010) or evenness (Sturludóttir et al, 2013) of species in affecting forage nutritive value. In this research, we determined the additive effect of individual grass or legume species in a mixture on forage nutritive value, or the expected change in nutritive value of a mixture as the contribution of a particular species increases from 0 to 100% of the mixture on a compositional basis.…”

Section: Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grass and Legume Effects on Nutritive Value of Complex Forage Mixtures

2015

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Dry matter productivity of complex forage mixtures is typically influenced by a dominant species, but nutritive value may be a function of multiple components. Two experiments were conducted in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during 2 yr. Each experiment consisted of 15 mixtures and monocultures of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), quackgrass (Elymus repens (L.) Gould), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), and white clover (Trifolium repens L.), or of meadow fescue [Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.) P. Beauv.], reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb.). Vegetative‐stage mixtures and monocultures were harvested five times each year. Botanical composition was used to calculate the additive effect of each species, or the expected change in nutritive value associated with a change in proportion of a species in the mixture from 0 to 100%. Nutritive value differences among mixtures attributed to abundance of sown species were evident the first year, but except for monocultures, had largely disappeared in the second year. White clover and meadow fescue had a positive additive effect on forage digestibility (range of 36 to 80 g kg−1), but alfalfa and reed canarygrass had no additive effect on digestibility. Legumes generally had a negative additive effect (range of −179 to −81 g kg−1) and grasses a positive effect (range of 81 to 166 g kg−1) on forage neutral detergent fiber concentration. The results suggest that species with high nutritive value relative to other species within the same functional group have a disproportionate effect on nutritive value of complex mixtures.

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“…Results of a pan-European experiment, which included a Canadian site, have demonstrated that mixing grasses and legumes increases dry matter (DM) yield (Finn et al 2013) with no negative effects on nutritive value (Sturludóttir et al 2013). Adding a legume into a grass sward has been shown to increase forage DM yield and crude protein concentration (Barnett and Posler 1983) and improve forage nutritive value (Papadopoulos et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yield and nutritive value of binary legume-grass mixtures under grazing or frequent cutting

et al. 2017

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Although most forage production in eastern Canada is comprised of species mixtures, little research has identified the best species to include in forage mixtures. Our objective was to identify binary legume-grass mixtures with high forage yield and nutritive value under either simulated grazing with frequent cutting or cattle grazing. The experiment was conducted at three sites in eastern Canada with 18 binary legume-grass mixtures of one of six grass species {Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), tall fescue [Schedonorus phoenix (Scob.) Holub], timothy (Phleum pratense L.), and meadow bromegrass (Bromus biebersteinii Roem. & Schult.)} seeded in 2010 with a grazing-type alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), or birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.). The six grass species grown in mixture with alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, or white clover persisted well under frequent cutting or rotational grazing at the three sites. White clover grown in a binary mixture with a grass species did not perform well under frequent cutting or rotational grazing. Meadow bromegrass based binary mixtures were overall the best performing in terms of dry matter yield; although their nutritive value was average, meadow bromegrass combined with alfalfa or birdsfoot trefoil were among the best legume-grass mixtures for estimated milk production per hectare. The greatest estimated milk production per hectare was obtained with birdsfoot trefoil mixed with meadow bromegrass followed by the alfalfa-timothy and the alfalfa-meadow bromegrass mixtures.Key words: alfalfa, clover, forage, grass, grazing.Résumé : Bien que la majeure partie des fourrages récoltés dans l'est du Canada viennent d'un mélange d'espèces, on a relativement peu effectué de recherches pour déterminer quelles espèces constitueraient le meilleur mélange. Les auteurs voulaient établir les mélanges binaires légumineuse-graminée dont le rendement fourrager est le plus élevé et qui ont la plus grande valeur nutritive en simulant la paissance avec des coupes fréquentes ou sous pâturage avec des animaux. L'expérience, réalisée à trois endroits dans l'est du Canada, portait sur 18 mélanges binaires de légumineuses et de graminées. Les six graminées employées étaient le pâturin des prés (Poa pratensis L.), la fétuque des prés (Festuca pratensis Huds.), le dactyle pelotonné (Dactylis glomerata L), la fétuque élevée [Schedonorus phoenix (Scob.) Holub ], la fléole (Phleum pratense L.) et le brome des prés (Bromus biebersteinii Roem. & Schult.). En 2010, ils ont semé les graminées avec de la luzerne adaptée à la paissance (Medicago sativa L.), du trèfle blanc (Trifolium repens L.) ou du lotier corniculé (Lotus corniculatus L.). Les six graminées cultivées avec la luzerne, le lotier corniculé ou le trèfle blanc ont bien résisté aux coupes fréquentes et aux pâturages tournants, aux trois sites. Mélangé à une graminée, le trèfle blanc n'a pas bien performé avec des coupes fréq...

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Benefits of mixing grasses and legumes for herbage yield and nutritive value inNorthernEurope andCanada

Cited by 104 publications

References 53 publications

Effect of Grass-legume Intercropping on Dry Matter Yield and Nutritive Value of Pastures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Effect of Grass-legume Intercropping on Dry Matter Yield and Nutritive Value of Pastures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Grass and Legume Effects on Nutritive Value of Complex Forage Mixtures

Yield and nutritive value of binary legume-grass mixtures under grazing or frequent cutting

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