Morphological development and nutritive value of herbage in five temperate grass species during primary growth: analysis of time dynamics

Čop, J.; Lavrenčič, A.; Košmelj, Katarina

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2494.2008.00676.x

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The values were consistent with a range of forage nutritive quality measurements presented elsewhere (e.g. Dalley et al, 1999;Ominski et al, 2006;Hegarty et al, 2007). These constant values had a lower influence on model outputs than NDF due to their lower absolute values or gradients.…”

Section: Enteric Methane Production Modellingsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The non-significant explanatory variables were removed from the full models as all terms were found to reduce Akaike's information criterion (AIC). The relative influence of each term on the model likelihood was assessed by comparing the AIC of the current model with that of a simplified model with the terms deleted until the AIC ceased to decline (Crawley, 2013;Richards, 2005). Temperature and rainfall could not be included together in the LME models because these variables were shown to covary strongly (P < 0.001); either temperature or rainfall was included in the full models based on minimising the AIC.…”

Section: Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forage quality declines with rising temperatures, with implications for livestock production and methane emissions

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Livestock numbers are increasing to supply the growing demand for meat-rich diets. The sustainability of this trend has been questioned, and future environmental changes, such as climate change, may cause some regions to become less suitable for livestock. Livestock and wild herbivores are strongly dependent on the nutritional chemistry of forage plants. Nutrition is positively linked to weight gains, milk production and reproductive success, and nutrition is also a key determinant of enteric methane production. In this meta-analysis, we assessed the effects of growing conditions on forage quality by compiling published measurements of grass nutritive value and combining these data with climatic, edaphic and management information. We found that forage nutritive value was reduced at higher temperatures and increased by nitrogen fertiliser addition, likely driven by a combination of changes to species identity and changes to physiology and phenology. These relationships were combined with multiple published empirical models to estimate forage- and temperature-driven changes to cattle enteric methane production. This suggested a previously undescribed positive climate change feedback, where elevated temperatures reduce grass nutritive value and correspondingly may increase methane production by 0.9 % with a 1 °C temperature rise and 4.5 % with a 5 °C rise (model average), thus creating an additional climate forcing effect. Future methane production increases are expected to be largest in parts of North America, central and eastern Europe and Asia, with the geographical extent of hotspots increasing under a high emissions scenario. These estimates require refinement and a greater knowledge of the abundance, size, feeding regime and location of cattle, and the representation of heat stress should be included in future modelling work. However, our results indicate that the cultivation of more nutritious forage plants and reduced livestock farming in warming regions may reduce this additional source of pastoral greenhouse gas emissions.

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Section: Enteric Methane Production Modellingsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forage quality declines with rising temperatures, with implications for livestock production and methane emissions

et al. 2017

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“…The following year, only switchgrass was investigated and then it did not exhibit a linear morphological developmental pattern. Čop et al. (2009) have used the scale of Sanderson (1992) to study the time course of weighted mean values, by weight, for five temperate grass species for two years and found that the time curves were close to linearity for tall oatgrass ( Arrhenatherum elatius (L.) Beauv.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A developmental scale for perennial forage grasses based on the decimal code framework

Gustavsson

2011

Grass and Forage Science

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Accurate descriptions of developmental stages in perennial forage grasses are important for management decisions during the growing season. It would be advantageous to have a scale and index equivalent to those for other grasses such as cereals. Similar scales would simplify the activities of people working with several crops and facilitate comparisons between perennial forage grasses and related crops (e.g. whole-crop cereals). The objective of this paper is to develop a 'forage grass decimal scale', by adapting the universal decimal code framework already understood and used by many agricultural personnel. Furthermore, to improve harvest timing for high-quality silage, new definitions, based on stem development, are used to improve upon the morphological precision of the universal code for the pre-and post-booting periods. The code is adapted to describe individual tillers, while approaches to describe whole stands of forage grasses are also evaluated.

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“…At the same time, trampling can accelerate plant litter decomposition, while promoting the grass-livestock-soil balance. Grazing intensity impacts new tissue regeneration, delays plant lignification, thereby increasing the CP, EE, and DMD, while reducing NDF and ADF concentrations, which will help meet the nutrient requirements of grazing livestock ( National Research Council, 2007 ; Čop et al, 2009 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant communities responding to grazing pressure by sheep in an Alpine meadow

Gong

Yao

et al. 2020

Translational Animal Science

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The Chinese grassland ecosystem is an important national asset that not only impacts climate regulation, soil and water conservation, wind protection, and soil carbon and nitrogen fixation but is also an important contributor to maintaining grassland biodiversity while supporting livestock production. Grasslands are a key component contributing to the productivity of grazing animals but also provide basic food production via livestock grazing for herder survival. Grazing is the most basic means of grassland utilization but is considered one of the more important disturbance factors controllable by humans that has a universal and profound impact on the grassland ecosystem due to animal density and over grazing. For Alpine grasslands, it is not clear what grazing intensity (GI) can be achieved to improve plant biodiversity and vegetative nutritional value while improving sheep productivity. This field experiment was conducted for 7 yr comparing the impact of different GI on vegetation community characteristics, nutritional value, and sheep growth performance on the Alpine meadows of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The GI measured were: Control: 0 sheep/ha; Low: 3.7 sheep/ha; Medium: 5.3 sheep/ha; and Heavy: 7.6 sheep/ha. The grazing experiment started in 2008, but experimental data collection and analyses were collected for the final 4 yr of 2015 through 2018. All grazing intensities >0 sheep/ha reduced (P < 0.05) plant height (27%, 46%, and 48%, respectively, for 3.7, 5.3, and 7.6 sheep/ha), ground coverage (16%, 24%, and 48%), and above ground biomass (2%, 42% and 53%) of the various plant communities while increasing (P < 0.05) the grass community density (individuals/m2) compared to a nongrazed Control. With increasing GI, the community height, coverage, and above-ground biomass decreased (P < 0.05), and the plant community density increased then decreased (P < 0.05) compared to Control. As GI increased, the available community biomass nutritional quality increased (P < 0.05). Comprehensive analysis showed that the community density (quantity) and nutritional quality were the highest when the GI was 5.3 sheep/ha. The higher the GI, the greater the grass’s nutritive value with lower above-ground net primary production (ANPP). When GI was the highest, the average daily gain (ADG) per hectare was the highest in the short term, but the highest GI endangers the ANPP and profitability of the grassland grazing ecosystem in the long term. Targeting a moderate GI (5.3 sheep/ha) can provide 78% of the ADG per hectare of the highest GI, which meets the requirement of maintaining a sustainable grazing grassland.

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Morphological development and nutritive value of herbage in five temperate grass species during primary growth: analysis of time dynamics

Cited by 27 publications

References 19 publications

Forage quality declines with rising temperatures, with implications for livestock production and methane emissions

Forage quality declines with rising temperatures, with implications for livestock production and methane emissions

A developmental scale for perennial forage grasses based on the decimal code framework

Plant communities responding to grazing pressure by sheep in an Alpine meadow

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