Metabolisable energy concentration in perennial ryegrass pastures: multi-site analysis of effects of cultivar, nitrogen fertiliser and white clover content

Cosgrove, G. P.; Lee, Julia M.; Chapman, D. F.; Stevens, D.R.; Rossi, Laura; King, W. M.; Edwards, Grant

doi:10.33584/jnzg.2018.80.325

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Therefore, a key factor of pasture resilience for reducing CH 4 losses per kg DM intake or kg product is to maintain or increase the energy content of the DM, either through selection of high-quality pasture species, improved genetics and/or improved pasture management. Cosgrove et al (2018) suggested that differences in ME content in perennial ryegrass cultivars were due to genetic variation, rather than management factors such as N fertilisation and clover content. There is increasing recognition of the need to shift the efforts of improving forage genetics from solely focussing on productivity traits to including attributes associated with improved resource use efficiency and energy content (Barrett et al 2015).…”

Section: Greenhouse Gas Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributes of resilient pasture for achieving environmental outcomes at farm scale

et al. 2021

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Pasture resilience commonly refers to a pasture’s ability to withstand or rebound from pressures to maintain production and quality of sown species. We suggest that a broader definition of pasture resilience is needed that also includes environmental responses, thus ensuring that productivity and environmental outcomes are considered together. Key attributes of resilient pastures to minimise soil erosion and nutrient, greenhouse gas and soil carbon losses are summarised based on current understanding of environmental losses from pastoral systems. These attributes include maintaining consistent pasture cover, high energy and/or low nitrogen species and species diversity that provides complementary root morphology and/or growth seasonality; all are likely to have positive benefits for production and productivity. There is a potential tension, however, between productivity and methane emissions, as methane production increases with increased feed intake. Increasing pasture quality is therefore also an important consideration for pasture resilience as it can maintain animal productivity at lower levels of feed intake. From a farm systems perspective, the choice of pasture species should reflect the desired attributes for both productivity and environmental outcomes, and ensure that the sown species persist in the sward. Finally, we note that none of the environmental attributes/benefits are likely to deliver major farm-scale improvements on their own; progress will likely be incremental improvements upon implementing a range of attributes.

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Section: Greenhouse Gas Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributes of resilient pasture for achieving environmental outcomes at farm scale

et al. 2021

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“…Kromus et al ( 2003) [29] describes green biorefinery as a concept to utilize green (grassland) biomass as raw material for the production of biobased products such as proteins, lactic acid, fibre and energy (via biogas). Green biorefineries process protein-rich green leafy biomass including grass (e.g., ryegrass, clover and lucerne) and fresh leaves (e.g., potato or beet leaves).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production of Green Biorefinery Protein Concentrate Derived from Perennial Ryegrass as an Alternative Feed for Pigs

Ravindran

Koopmans²,

Sanders³

et al. 2021

Clean Technol.

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Perennial rye grass is a widely used forage species in Ireland, on which the ruminant sector of agriculture is heavily dependent. While this species of grass is the primary source of fodder for cows, it is also abundant in plant protein, which could form a potential alternative ingredient in monogastric animal feed using a green biorefinery approach. In this study, perennial rye grass was processed using a novel biorefining process to extract value added products including protein as a potential replacement for soybean meal in monogastric feeds. Feed trials were conducted on a commercial farm with 55 weaner pigs for 31 days until slaughter. The diets comprised a control and a trial diet which integrated the green biorefinery protein concentrate. The effects of the new diet were determined by measuring the daily feed intake (DFI), average weight gain (AWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Amino acid profiles of grass protein concentrate and soybean meal were comparable, with the latter having a slightly higher amount of total protein content, lysine and cysteine. The DFI and ADW indicated that the treatment diet was superior to the control. DFI for the treatment diet (1.512 kg/d) was 8% higher than the control diet (1.400 kg/d) by the end of the trial. Additionally, the ADW for the treatment diet was 6.44% higher than that achieved in the control sample. Meanwhile, FCR calculations indicated that the treatment diet is just as efficient as the conventional diet. Overall, the results of the study indicate positive potential for perennial ryegrass-derived green biorefinery protein concentrate as an alternative protein source for pig feed formulations in Ireland.

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“…The incorporation of white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) into intensive pasture-based production systems provides many advantages in terms of feed value and animal performance, and can potentially contribute to improving the sustainability of pasture-based ruminant production systems [ 13 , 14 ]. Incorporating white clover in perennial ryegrass swards can increase the metabolisable energy content of the sward [ 15 ] due to its lower fibre concentration reflecting the absence of structural components such as stem and sheaths [ 16 ]. A recent meta-analysis by Johansen et al [ 9 ] reported grass species with similar organic matter digestibility (OMD) resulted in comparable DMI and milk production, but when legumes were incorporated DMI and milk production increased.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry Matter Intake and In Vivo Digestibility of Grass-Only and Grass-White Clover in Individually Housed Sheep in Spring, Summer and Autumn

Hurley

Lewis²,

Beecher

et al. 2021

Animals

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Intake and digestibility are key drivers of animal production from grazed forage. The objective of this study was to compare the in vivo digestibility and voluntary dry matter (DM) intake of grass-only and grass-white clover (grass-clover) forage in individually housed sheep. This study was a Latin square design, repeated on three occasions in 2017: Spring (27 March–29 April), summer (19 June–22 July) and autumn (4 September–29 September). Grass-clover and grass-only swards were harvested daily and offered ad libitum to 6 individually housed wether sheep per treatment per period. Digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) were determined using the total faecal collection method. Dry matter intake was not significantly different between treatments. White clover inclusion increased forage crude protein concentration in autumn (p < 0.001) and reduced NDF concentration in the offered forage (p < 0.001), increasing nitrogen intake per sheep in autumn (p < 0.001) and decreasing NDF intake per sheep in autumn (p < 0.001). Grass-clover swards had a significantly greater OM and DM digestibility compared to grass-only swards (p < 0.05). This could potentially result in increased animal production from grass-clover swards compared to grass-only swards.

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Metabolisable energy concentration in perennial ryegrass pastures: multi-site analysis of effects of cultivar, nitrogen fertiliser and white clover content

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

Attributes of resilient pasture for achieving environmental outcomes at farm scale

Attributes of resilient pasture for achieving environmental outcomes at farm scale

Production of Green Biorefinery Protein Concentrate Derived from Perennial Ryegrass as an Alternative Feed for Pigs

Dry Matter Intake and In Vivo Digestibility of Grass-Only and Grass-White Clover in Individually Housed Sheep in Spring, Summer and Autumn

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