Effect of spring grazing management on perennial ryegrass and ryegrass‐white clover pastures

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of timing and duration of lax spring grazing on tiller dynamics in perennial ryegrass swards, with and without white clover. Two periods of lax grazing-short release (SR) from 26 October to 8 December and long release (LR) from 15 September to 8 December-were compared with a conventional hard grazing-early control (EC). These treatments were applied to swards of perennial ryegrass, with and without white clover, and grazed by sheep. Tiller weight, tiller population density, tiller appearance and death, and stolon population were analysed in a factorial design with three (Experiment 1) and four (Experiment 2) replicates. Tiller weight was increased during the reproductive period, particularly in SR and LR treatments. Also, tiller appearance rate increased in all treatments from September to late January, and was particularly high late in December after grazing of the apices of the main group of reproductive tillers. Lax grazing management increased tiller appearance rate by 53% (P 0.05) in Experiment 1 and 23% (P 0.05) in Experiment 2, and tiller loss rate by 40% in Experiment 1 (P 0.05) and 23% in Experiment 2 (P 0.05). Over 6 weeks following the return to A95070 hard grazing, these effects were reflected in increased tiller population densities of 170, 147, and 115% in LR, SR, and EC treatments respectively in Experiment 1 (P 0.05), and 97, 110.5, and 36.5% in LR, SR, and EC treatments respectively in Experiment 2 (P 0.05). It is concluded that the increases in herbage production observed in summer-autumn following imposition of managements which combined lax spring grazing and hard grazing at the time of anthesis, can be attributed to increased tiller densities. The increase was most marked when the period of lax grazing was longer.

Wood Ash Fertilization on Structural Characteristics and Chlorophyll Index of Tropical Forage Grasses

“…The determination of plant height, among others, is an important characteristic for evaluation of the productive potential of forage grasses [12]. Furthermore, according to reference [13], it is a relevant structural characteristic also for an appropriate management.…”

Potential of Wood Ash as a Fertilizer in BRS Piatã Grass Cultivation in the Brazilian Cerrado Soil

“…Plant height is regarded as a structural characteristic, pertinent for adopting adequate management [20].…”

Just grazing the surface: A tribute to Professor John Hodgson 1937–2018

“…He then moved to the Hill Farming Research Institute in Penicuik, Scotland (1981) John's publication history began with his PhD work in 1965 (Hodgson, 1965), yielding the first of a series of papers in Animal Science on the weaning of dairy calves from liquid to solid food. In parallel with this programme of research, John developed and began to publish his lifelong study of the interplay between pasture sward characteristics and grazing intensity (Garay, Matthew, & Hodgson, 1997). A gross oversimplification of this system is that forage quality, as determined by the digestibility and nutritional content of grasses and herbs (quite naturally) influences the development of livestock (Hodgson, 1990).…”

“…He made it clear to his readers that both understocking and overstocking could result in the degrading of otherwise highly productive agricultural land, even on nutrient-poor soils on difficult terrains (Lemaire et al, 2011). John's contribution to finding this sweet spot was a series of papers that measured the selection and consumption of various species of pasture grass (Garay et al, 1997;da Silva et al, 2009), legume (Poli, Hodgson, Cosgrove, & Arnold, 2006) and forage crops (Li, Kemp, & Hodgson, 1997), and in particular mixtures of these species (Illius et al, 1992;Milne, Hodgson, Thompson, Souter, & Barthram, 1982), by various grazing livestock species including sheep (Milne et al, 1982), cattle (Griffiths, Hodgson, & Arnold, 2003a,b;Poli et al, 2006;Romera, Morris, Hodgson, Stirling, & Wodward, 2004), red and sambar deer (Semiadi, Muir, Barry, Veltman, & Hodgson, 1993), goats (Harrington, Beskow, & Hodgson, 2011) and alpaca (Sharp, Knight, & Hodgson, 1995). John also provided the primary research techniques that allow the precise measurement of growth, palatability and senescence in pasture plants (Hodgson & Ollerenshaw, 1969).…”