Nutrient Flows in Suckler Farm Systems under Two Levels of Intensity

Schellberg, J.; Arno, Lellmann; Kühbauch, Walter

doi:10.1007/s10705-006-8318-5

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…TDMO/kg LWG obtained in HI sheep/goats compares well to the 7 to 8 kg DM/kg LWG reported by Bourzat et al (1987) for intensively fed Mossi sheep in Burkina Faso. Likewise, in HI and LI cattle, the obtained cool dry and hot dry season values of 5.6 to 13.5 kg TDMO/kg LWG agree with the 9.8 to 14.9 kg DM/kg LWG reported for suckler cows in intensive stall-feeding system in Germany (Schellberg et al, 2006). Furthermore, they compare well to the 8.9 to 12.7 kg DM/kg LWG obtained in stall-fed Malawi Zebu (Munthali, 1986).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Resource use efficiency in urban and peri-urban sheep, goat and cattle enterprises

Diogo

Buerkert

Schlecht

2010

Animal

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Urban livestock husbandry receives growing attention given the increasing urban demand for livestock products. At the same time, little is known about the resource use efficiency in urban livestock enterprises and eventual negative externalities. In livestock production, feeds are an important resource whose nutrients are transformed into products (meat and milk) to generate financial return to the producer. The lack of knowledge on nutrient supply through feed might lead to oversupply with severe environmental impacts. In Niamey, a typical West African city and capital of the Republic of Niger, urban livestock production is constrained by feed scarcity, especially during the dry season. Here, the issue of resource use efficiency was studied in 13 representative and differently managed sheep/goat and cattle enterprises characterized by high and low feed inputs, respectively, during a period of 28 months. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) inflows into each farm through livestock feeds and outflows through manure were determined using a semi-structured questionnaire; interviews were accompanied by regular weighing of feed supplied and dung produced. Live weight gain (LWG) and efficiency of conversion of total feed dry matter offered (kg TDMO/kg LWG) were computed along with nutrient balances (NBs) per metabolic body mass (kg 0.75 ). NBs (per kg 0.75 /day) in the high-input (HI) sheep/goat enterprises were 11762.4 mg N, 1127.2 mg P and 11363.5 mg K and were significantly greater (P , 0.05) than those in low-input (LI) units (169.1 mg N, 298.3 mg P and 116.5 mg K). In HI cattle enterprises, daily balances averaged 1454.1 mg N, 140.1 mg P and 1341.8 mg K compared to 134.4 mg N, 29.0 mg P and 168.3 mg K (P . 0.05) in LI cattle systems. All systems were characterized by poor conversion efficiencies of offered feed, which ranged from 13.5 to 46.1 kg TDMO/kg LWG in cattle and from 15.7 to 43.4 kg TDMO/kg LWG in sheep/goats. LWG in HI sheep/goats was 53 g/day in the rainy season, 86 g/day in the hot dry season and 104 g/day in the cool dry season, while HI cattle lost 79 g/day in the hot dry season and gained 121 g/day and 92 g/day in the cool dry and rainy seasons, respectively. The data indicate that there is nutrient wasting and scope for improvement of feeding strategies in Niamey's livestock enterprises, which might also decrease nutrient losses to the urban environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Resource use efficiency in urban and peri-urban sheep, goat and cattle enterprises

Diogo

Buerkert

Schlecht

2010

Animal

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“…Due to the generally known high mobility of mineral N in grassland ecosystems (Schellberg et al 2006), increased N concentrations in the N treatments can probably be ascribed to the effect of Ca applied together with commercial N fertilizer (Table 1). This possibility is supported by the fact that N concentrations were higher in Ca treatments as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term residual effect of short-term fertilizer application on Ca, N and P concentrations in grasses Nardus stricta L. and Avenella flexuosa L.

Klaudisová

Hejcman

Pavlů

2009

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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The resilience (the ability of an ecosystem to recover after termination of perturbation) of plant species composition after short-term fertilizer application can take decades in sub-alpine grassland, but little attention has been paid to the resilience of nutrient concentrations in the biomass of individual plant species. In 2004, an abandoned experiment in which phosphorus, nitrogen and calcium had been applied from 1965 to 1967 was identified in the Giant Mts. (Krkonoše/Karkonosze, Czech Republic). The biomass of two dominant grasses, Nardus stricta and Avenella flexuosa, was analyzed for Ca, N and P concentrations 37 years after the last fertilizer application. In treatments with P application, the P concentration was still significantly increased in both species. The N concentration was higher in treatments with N or Ca application and the lowest in P treatments. The N:P ratio ranged from 7.7 to 16.6 and from 6.2 to 16.3 in N. stricta and A. flexuosa, respectively, and was lowest in P treatments where A. flexuosa predominated. N. stricta dominated in treatments where the biomass N:P ratio was higher than 13, whereas lower ratios were more favourable for A. flexuosa. In the case of N. stricta, the Ca concentration was increased in Ca treatments. Ca and P concentrations in N. stricta biomass were significantly positively correlated with soil plant available P and Ca concentrations, but this was not recorded for A. flexuosa. In environments with different P availability, the competitive ability of investigated species was predetermined by the N:P ratio in their biomass. As in the case of plant species composition and soil chemical properties, the resilience of Ca, N and P concentrations in the biomass of individual species can take decades in sub-alpine grassland.

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“…However, the curvilinear approximation to the herbage intake (H I ) to herbage allowance (H A ) relationship agrees well with already existing and well-proved equations. Differences between parameters of the equation in Figure 5a to those provided by Peyraud et al (2004) with A = 18.04 and B = −0.0466, and a previous experiment on Rengen Experimental Farm (Schellberg et al, 2006) with A = 18.04 and B = −0.066, are only slight.…”

Section: Intake Excretion Loss and Use Efficiency Of Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 41%

“…the sum of N leaching and volatilisation, ranged from about 30 to 225 g animal −1 day −1 depending on intake and N content of forage. In a previous experiment with 2 suckler herds in the vicinity of the present experiment on Rengen Research Station (Schellberg et al, 2006), the average percentage loss of N with grazing throughout two growing seasons was calculated as 29.3% of the total N ingested. In the same experiment, the estimated urine N losses were about 41% of total urine N excreted as an average.…”

Section: Intake Excretion Loss and Use Efficiency Of Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…van Horn et al, 1995). With more profitable beef production with suckler cows, however, utilisation frequency, stocking rate and N intake are usually improved such that N excretion per hectare can exceed even that of dairy cattle (Schellberg et al, 2006). This is mainly caused by a high proportion of non-utilised nutrients and low beef N export as compared with milk N export from grazing dairy cows (Estermann et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of herbage on N intake and N excretion of suckler cows

Schellberg

Südekum

Gebbing

2007

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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The release of nitrogen on pastures by the grazing animal is a significant source of N load to soil and water and hence a possible source of nitrate pollution. Here we studied the effect of forage quantity and quality related to N intake to examine excretion and loss. A twoyear grazing experiment on an intensively managed Lolio-Cynosuretum was established in Rengen Research Station, Germany. Two groups of 4 suckler cows each were grazed along a gradient of forage mass and quality consisting of 16 plots each in 4 replicates per year. Our results show that in the final plots of the gradient, forage mass exceeded by far the recommended optimum of herbage allowance. At the same time, herbage quality decreased along that gradient from about 11 to 9.5 MJ metabolisable energy per kg dry matter, but daily N intake increased from 140 to 600 g N per animal. The related N excretion per animal was constant, with faeces at about 60 to 75 g N. In contrast, daily N excretion with urine increased linearly depending on N intake from less than 100 g to more than 500 g per animal. Thus, N loss was estimated to increase in the same way and was determined as about 22% of total N intake. We conclude that low quality in tall swards, including partly senesced plant material, does not imply low herbage and N intake and N excretion. Our findings indicate that in grassland extensification schemes, where late turning out to pasture is common, N intake and hence excretion might disagree with the intention of limiting forage N conversion and subsequent release to the environment. We also provide a simple spreadsheet with which farmers can quantify the N excretion as a factor of herbage allowance, faeces N content, daily N retention and stocking density. This appears useful not only under standard conditions on improved grassland, but also in environmentally sensitive areas where N release is required to be kept under strict control.

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Nutrient Flows in Suckler Farm Systems under Two Levels of Intensity

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Resource use efficiency in urban and peri-urban sheep, goat and cattle enterprises

Resource use efficiency in urban and peri-urban sheep, goat and cattle enterprises

Long-term residual effect of short-term fertilizer application on Ca, N and P concentrations in grasses Nardus stricta L. and Avenella flexuosa L.

Effect of herbage on N intake and N excretion of suckler cows

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