Are diverse species mixtures better pastures for dairy farming?

Woodward, S.L.; Waugh, C. D.; Roach, C. G.; Fynn, D.; Phillips, James M.

doi:10.33584/jnzg.2013.75.2926

Cited by 44 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…A two-year study in this region also showed greater DM production from diverse than standard pasture (Nobilly et al 2013). Given that increased summer DM production observed in both regions was the result of the dominance of summer tolerant chicory, plantain and/or lucerne (Nobilly et al 2013;Woodward et al 2013), greater productivity of diverse pasture in Canterbury compared with the Waikato was possibly due to an added response to irrigation. This suggests that incorporating diverse pasture in the irrigation-based Canterbury dairy systems has the potential to increase annual home-grown DM production with positive effects on milk production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Diverse pasture production was estimated using seasonal growth rates and annual herbage yields measured in diverse pastures for the two regions (Nobilly et al, 2013;Woodward et al, 2013). Feed quality for standard and diverse pastures were predicted by Molly from the feed composition generated using data from three studies (Burke, 2004;Nobilly et al, 2013;Woodward et al, 2013). The generated values for CP content and the ratio of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC):CP for the Waikato and Canterbury are shown in Figs.…”

Section: Model Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approaches to reduce UN of grazing cows include utilisation of ryegrass cultivars with lower crude protein (CP) and using plant species with higher rumen undegradable protein (see review by Totty et al, 2013). Recent studies have shown that use of diverse pastures (comprising grasses, legumes and herbs) can reduce UN excretion in late lactating cows, without negatively impacting milk yield (Nobilly et al, 2013;Totty et al, 2013;Woodward et al, 2013). This offers the prospect of increasing milk production at a farm system level without increasing the N footprint.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crude protein (CP) content (a) and the ratio of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC):CP (b) for standard and diverse pastures in the Waikato -generated fromBurke (2004) andWoodward et al (2013) data. Crude protein (CP) content (a) and the ratio of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC):CP (b)…”

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confidence: 99%

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The potential of diverse pastures to reduce nitrogen leaching on New Zealand dairy farms

et al. 2014

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The largest contributor to nitrogen (N) leaching from ryegrass-clover pasture based dairy farms is the surplus feed N excreted as urinary N (UN) onto pastures. Pastures consisting of mixtures of ryegrass, herbs and legumes (diverse pastures) have shown potential to yield similar DM, but with a lower N content and a higher water soluble carbohydrate : crude protein ratio compared with standard ryegrass–clover pastures. These diverse pastures have shown the potential to lower the UN excreted by dairy cows in short-term, late-lactation studies. This modelling study was designed to scale the results from component studies up to farm and over a full season to evaluate the potential of diverse pastures to become a suitable strategy for reducing N leaching on New Zealand dairy farms. The Molly cow model was tested against observed data from one indoor and one outdoor study where feeding diverse pasture resulted in UN (N excreted in urine g/day) reductions of 50% and 17%, respectively. The model predicted UN reductions of 23% and 17%. Farm-scale model scenarios, where 20% or 50% of the farm was sown with diverse pastures, resulted in 2% and 6% reductions in UN deposited onto paddocks. This reduction was smaller than expected with some system interactions related to seasonal feed supply, diet composition and total N intake being likely to play a role. The reduction in UN onto paddocks, together with a dilution effect from larger urine volumes per cow per day as a result of lower DM% of diverse pastures, resulted in N leaching reductions of 11% and 19% for the two scenarios, respectively. This potential to reduce N leaching needs to be evaluated further in the context of farm profitability when other aspects of diverse pastures such as yield, persistency, drought resistance and ability to extract N from the soil becomes part of the farm-system analysis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Model Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The potential of diverse pastures to reduce nitrogen leaching on New Zealand dairy farms

et al. 2014

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“…A site was established at DairyNZ's Scott Farm, Hamilton, New Zealand (37°47′ S, 175°19′ E) on a Matangi silt loam (Stiles & Singleton 1997) in autumn 2010, as part of a larger study to compare the performance of a range of pasture types on pasture and milk production (Woodward et al 2013). Site establishment began with soil testing in mid-February 2010.…”

Section: Site Establishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of sown species and weed ingress in new dairy pastures based on tall fescue and perennial ryegrass

Tozer

Minneé²,

Cameron³

2014

NZPP

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Poor performance of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and subsequent weed ingress reduces pasture productivity Tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) is more droughttolerant than perennial ryegrass and may perform better in summer dry upper North Island environments thus reducing weed ingress To compare swards based on perennial ryegrass and tall fescue for performance of sown species and weed ingress a replicated grazed plot study was established Measurements were made every 3 months from May 2010 until May 2013 Percentage cover of sown species at the canopy surface was significantly higher in perennial ryegrass than tall fescue swards over 3 years By the end of the third year basal and canopy cover of unsown species in tall fescue swards reached 28 and 40 respectively compared with only 13 and 7 respectively in perennial ryegrass Perennial ryegrass swards performed better and may provide a better option for keeping out weeds within the first 3 years of sowing

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Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate‐proof intensive agriculture

Mason

Palmer

Romera

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Agricultural production systems face increasing threats from more frequent and extreme weather fluctuations associated with global climate change. While there is mounting evidence that increased plant community diversity can reduce the variability of ecosystem functions (such as primary productivity) in the face of environmental fluctuation, there has been little work testing whether this is true for intensively managed agricultural systems. Using statistical modeling techniques to fit environment–productivity relationships offers an efficient means of leveraging hard‐won experimental data to compare the potential variability of different mixtures across a wide range of environmental contexts. We used data from two multiyear field experiments to fit climate–soil–productivity models for two pasture mixtures under intensive grazing—one composed of two drought‐sensitive species (standard), and an eight‐species mixture including several drought‐resistant species (complex). We then used these models to undertake a scoping study estimating the mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of annual productivity for long‐term climate data covering all New Zealand on soils with low, medium, or high water‐holding capacity. Our results suggest that the complex mixture is likely to have consistently lower CV in productivity, irrespective of soil type or climate regime. Predicted differences in mean annual productivity between mixtures were strongly influenced by soil type and were closely linked to mean annual soil water availability across all soil types. Differences in the CV of productivity were only strongly related to interannual variance in water availability for the lowest water‐holding capacity soil. Our results show that there is considerable scope for mixtures including drought‐tolerant species to enhance certainty in intensive pastoral systems. This provides justification for investing resources in a large‐scale distributed experiment involving many sites under different environmental contexts to confirm these findings.

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Are diverse species mixtures better pastures for dairy farming?

Cited by 44 publications

References 10 publications

The potential of diverse pastures to reduce nitrogen leaching on New Zealand dairy farms

The potential of diverse pastures to reduce nitrogen leaching on New Zealand dairy farms

Performance of sown species and weed ingress in new dairy pastures based on tall fescue and perennial ryegrass

Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate‐proof intensive agriculture

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