Many dairy cows, particularly in southern New Zealand have kale (Brassica olercaea) as a major component of their winter diet. Anecdotal evidence suggests variable results in cow body condition are achieved when kale is used as a component of the winter diet. A survey of crop yield, nutritive value and grazing management practices of kale crops was undertaken in Canterbury during winter 2007 to investigate possible causes of these variable results. Keywords: kale, utilisation, allowance, quality, dairy

Plantain has the potential to reduce nitrate leaching through a number of mechanisms. In an indoor study, sheep were offered either perennial ryegrass or different plantain genotypes while aiming to achieve similar dry matter and water intakes. Supplementary water was sprayed on the feed to achieve the latter objective. Animals fed two cultivars (‘Tonic’ and ‘Agritonic’, marketed as “Ecotains” with claims around the potential to reduce nitrate leaching, and breeding lines (from a breeding program aimed at improving aspects of leaching mitigation) produced significantly more urine (4925 and 4887 ml/day, respectively) than those fed a range of commercial plantain cultivars (averaging 4333 ml/day) or perennial ryegrass (3993 ml/day). These results suggest the plantains marketed as “Ecotains” and those in the environmental breeding program may have diuretic effects on sheep, thereby reducing the concentration of nitrogen in the urine. In a soil incubation experiment, urine from sheep grazing either perennial ryegrass or ‘Agritonic’ plantain was applied to soil microcosms (70 ml vials containing 20 g of soil). Urine from sheep grazing the plantain, showed a slower overall nitrification rate (especially in the first 28 days post-application) when a significantly lower proportion of the urinary N was converted to nitrate. Both these observations support the use of specific genotypes of plantain to assist in reducing nitrate leaching.

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A field experiment evaluated the effect of plantain (Plantago lanceolata) on ewe and lamb liveweight changes and ewe faecal egg count (FEC) during lactation. Pregnant ewes were randomly allocated to either plantain or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) pastures. Ewes remained on the treatments from one week before lambing until weaning. Keywords: lactating ewe, lamb, lactation, carrying capacity, internal parasites

Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) is known to contain bioactive compounds including verbascoside (acteoside), aucubin and catalpol. Limited New Zealand data are available to quantify the concentrations of secondary plant compounds in cultivars of plantain. This experiment compared secondary plant compound concentrations for five cultivars or breeding lines of plantain and the botanical distribution of these compounds over a year. For all cultivars verbascoside concentration was greatest, aucubin intermediate and catalpol lowest. The concentration of catalpol and verbascoside in leaf tended to be greater for the cultivars ‘Hercules’ and ‘Endurance’ compared with ‘Elite 2’, ‘PG742’ and ‘Tonic’. However, ‘Hercules’ and ‘Endurance’ tended to have lower concentrations of catalpol and verbascoside in scape (reproductive material from base to seedhead). The difference among cultivars in aucubin concentration was small. This experiment suggests that leaf concentration of catalpol and verbascoside is genotype specific.