Methane Emission and Milk Production from Jersey Cows Grazing Perennial Ryegrass–White Clover and Multispecies Forage Mixtures

Loza, Cecilia; Reinsch, Thorsten; Loges, Ralf; Taube, F.; Gere, José Ignacio; Kluß, Christof; Hasler, Mario; Malisch, Carsten Stefan

doi:10.3390/agriculture11020175

Cited by 23 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The main advantages of an IFG is the possibility of the inclusion of leys in a cash-crop arable system to accelerate C and N accumulation in the soil as a result of BNF from grass-clover leys and animal-N excreta; and in terms of forage provision the benefits of continuous progress in forage plant breeding, as expressed as high energy and protein values similar to concentrate feed, can be gained by frequent renovation of the seeded leys. Moreover, leys offer the opportunity to include alternative species such as forage herbs that may benefit the digestibility and forage intake of grazing animals (Loza et al, 2021) at low N 2 O emissions from pasture land (Nyameasem et al, 2021). Lorenz et al (2019), moreover, noticed that the efficiency of the proposed dairy systems depends on the farm management and that the evaluation of such systems needs accurate estimates of the forage efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Reinsch¹,

Loza²,

Malisch³

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Intensive confinement (IC) systems for dairying have become widespread during the last decades. However, potential advantages of alternative systems such as full-grazing (FG) or integrated dairy/cash-crop (IFG) systems with regards to better provision of ecosystem services are widely discussed. To investigate performance and environmental impacts, we compared four prevailing dairy systems using an on-farm research study. The farm types differed in their share of pasture access and quantity of resource inputs: (i) an IC with a high import of supplements and mineral fertilizers; (ii) a semi-confinement (SC) with daytime pasture access during summer and moderate import of supplementary feeds representing the base-line scenario; (iii) a FG based on grazed seeded grass-clover swards with no purchased N-fertilizers and low quantities of supplementary feeds; and (iv) an IFG comparable to FG but based on grass-clover leys integrated in a cash-crop rotation. Results revealed highest milk productivity (16 t energy-corrected-milk (ECM) ha−1) and farm-N-balance (230 kg N ha−1) in IC; however, the highest product carbon footprint (PCF; 1.2 CO2eq kg ECM−1) and highest N-footprint (13 g N kg ECM−1) were found in the baseline system SC. The FG and IFG revealed on average similar forage dry matter yields (10 – 11 t DM ha−1) at similar crude protein and net-energy-lactation ratios per kg DM-intake compared to the IC and SC. The PCF in FG were comparable to IC (0.9 vs. 1.1 kg CO2eq kg ECM−1) but at a lower N-footprint (9 vs. 12 g N kg ECM−1). However, despite low measured N-losses in the FG system, the farm-N-surplus was exceeded by 90 kg N ha−1. A further reduction was only possible in the IFG (50 kg N ha−1) by accounting for a potential N-carry-over from N-rich plant residues to the cash-crop unit, leading to the lowest PCF (0.6 kg CO2eq kg ECM−1) for the IFG, with still moderate milk yield levels (~10,500 kg ECM ha−1). According to this bottom-up approach based on field data, improved integrated grazing systems could provide an important opportunity to increase the ecosystem services from dairy farming, operating with land use efficiencies similar to IC.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Reinsch¹,

Loza²,

Malisch³

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…A study conducted by Nyameasem et al [34], on the same experimental site, reported low levels of N 2 O emissions which further indicates the effective use of N in the low-input system [20]. With regard to the N on a farm-level, a low-input ley-systems based on grazing allows for high productivity in combination with high biodiversity effects [68], low GHG emissions [16,34] and milk production with a low carbon footprint, thereby resulting in eco-efficient dairy systems [69]. These low-input systems could therefore serve as a platform in order to reduce the negative environmental effects associated with dairy farming in northern Germany which will adhere to the European Union Nitrate Directive [8], the Water Framework Directive [9] and the Groundwater Directive [10], organizations that aim to protect both surface and groundwater from agricultural use.…”

Section: Field-n-balancementioning

confidence: 85%

“…The inclusion of forage herbs in grass-clover swards has been found to encourage a reduction in the environmental impact of milk production [14]. Several other publications support this statement and indicate that the inclusion of legumes and forage herbs in pastures can reduce the impact of milk on the environment [6,15,16]. Forage crops in mixed farming systems, also referred to as ley-arable-systems, have traditionally been used in Europe as an additional source of feed for ruminants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Very Low Nitrogen Leaching in Grazed Ley-Arable-Systems in Northwest Europe

et al. 2021

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High input dairy farms that are located on sandy soils in northwest Europe are predisposed to substantial nitrate leaching during a surplus of winter precipitation. Leys within integrated crop-livestock systems play an important role in soil fertility, soil C sequestration and soil N mineralization potentials. Therefore, leys are a feasible option that can be utilized to reduce local N losses to the environment, especially following maize grown for silage. We hypothesize that grass-clover leys ensure low nitrate leaching losses even when grazed intensively. The extent to which NO3-leaching occurred across seven different pasture management systems in terms of their sward composition, cutting, grazing, fertilization and combinations thereof was investigated in integrated animal-crop grazing systems over three winter periods (2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020). The observed grazed systems were comprised of cut-used- and grazed grass-clover swards (0, 1 and 2 years after establishment following cereals), a catch crop grazed late in the year as well as a cut-used permanent grassland for comparison. Overall, all treatments resulted in nitrate leaching losses that did not exceed the WHO-threshold (25 mg nitrate/L). The highest level of NO3-leaching was observed in the catch crop system and the lowest in cut-used permanent grassland, with NO3-N losses of 19.6 ± 5.3 and 2.1 ± 0.3 kg NO3-N ha−1 year−1. Annual herbage yields were in the range of 0.9 to 12.4 t DM ha−1 and nitrogen yields varied between 181 ± 51 and 228 ± 66 kg N ha−1 during the study period. The highest herbage-N-yields were observed from the 1- and 2-year-old grass-clover leys. The highest N-field-balance was observed for the grazed leys and the lowest for the cut-used permanent grassland. However, no correlation was found between the highly positive field-N-balance and the amount of NO3-leached. This indicates a high N carry-over from grass-clover swards to the subsequent cash crop unit instead of increasing the risk of groundwater contamination from grazed leys in integrated animal crop-systems and underlines the eco-efficiency of dairy farming based on grazed ley systems.

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“…The study took place in 2019 at the Lindhof experimental farm of Kiel University, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany (WGS 84, 54 • 28 N; 9 • 58 E), in the frame of the topic "Eco-efficiency of pasture-based milk production" [54][55][56]. In 2019, the mean temperature of the study area was 10.24 • C (mean annual temperature of 9.35 • C between 1990 and 2019) and the annual precipitation was 745 mm (mean annual precipitation of 775 mm between 1990 and 2019).…”

Section: Study Region and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-Enriched Grass-Clover Mixtures Can Promote Bumblebee Abundance Compared with Intensively Managed Conventional Pastures

et al. 2022

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(1) Land use intensification has led to serious declines in biodiversity, including in forage production systems for dairy cows. Agri-environmental schemes, such as enriching grasslands in floral species, were shown to be an effective tool to promote biodiversity in higher trophic levels. Here, we studied an innovative pasture-based dairy production system with floral-species-enhanced temporary grasslands, with respect to the effect on wild bee abundance and species richness. (2) We studied three grass–clover mixtures with perennial ryegrass and clover species with different levels of plant diversity for flower cover and wild bees. The grass-clover pastures were rotationally stocked with cattle and parts of the pastures were excluded from grazing. Intensively managed conventional permanent grasslands were studied as the common land use type. Wild bees were caught by sweep netting. Wild bee diversity was analysed with a general linear mixed model. For species richness, an incidence-based coverage estimator was calculated. (3) In total, 541 wild bees from 10 species were found. No wild bees were caught on the conventional grasslands. Wild bee abundance and species richness did not differ among the three grass-clover mixtures, but with increasing flower cover of white clover (Trifolium repens), wild bee abundance increased. Except for one solitary wild bee individual, the recorded community exclusively consisted of bumblebees. While generalist species that are commonly found on farmland dominated, rare long-tongued bumblebees made up 10% on the grazed sites of the multispecies mixture and made up 20% on the ungrazed strips of the binary mixture and multispecies mixture. (4) We conclude that multispecies mixtures can provide resources for generalist bumblebee species, especially when compared with conventional grasslands that offer no resources. Considering that the multispecies mixture has been also shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate leaching, while maintaining high forage yields, our findings add to the potential to promote a wide range of ecosystem services. Yet, should their full potential be enfolded, grazing should partially be excluded, and the mixture should be extended by plant species with more open flowers, suitable for solitary wild bees.

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Methane Emission and Milk Production from Jersey Cows Grazing Perennial Ryegrass–White Clover and Multispecies Forage Mixtures

Cited by 23 publications

References 51 publications

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Toward Specialized or Integrated Systems in Northwest Europe: On-Farm Eco-Efficiency of Dairy Farming in Germany

Very Low Nitrogen Leaching in Grazed Ley-Arable-Systems in Northwest Europe

Species-Enriched Grass-Clover Mixtures Can Promote Bumblebee Abundance Compared with Intensively Managed Conventional Pastures

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