1. Implications of grass-clover interactions in dairy pastures for forage value indexing systems. 6. Cross-site analysis and general discussion.
- Author
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Chapman, David F., Crush, Jim R., Lee, Julia M., Cosgrove, Gerald P., Stevens, David R., Rossi, Laura, Popay, Alison J., Edwards, Grant R., and King, Warren M.
- Subjects
PASTURES ,GRASSES ,NITROGEN fertilizers ,RYEGRASSES ,CULTIVARS ,MONOCULTURE agriculture - Abstract
Herbage accumulation (HA) data from four sites were combined to (1) address the hypothesis that adjustments to the New Zealand Forage Value Index to account for grass-clover interactions are not required and (2) explore the main effects of clover and nitrogen (N) fertiliser treatments on pasture productivity. In summer and autumn, pastures based on mid-season heading ryegrass cultivars consistently supported a greater clover content than pastures based on late heading cultivars. However, the clover × cultivar interaction was significant in only 2 of 17 HA data sets available for analysis. Thus, the hypothesis is supported. Compared with ryegrass monocultures, mixtures yielded an additional 2.4 (in the Low-N treatment) and 1.2 (High-N treatment) t DM/ha/year. Apparent N transfer from clover to grass was 79 (Low N) and 27 (High N) kg N/ha/year, derived from estimated N fixation efficiencies of 66 (Low N) and 50 (High N) kg N/t clover DM grown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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