Pasture utilisation and its effect on herbage quality
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Authors
Date
1984
Type
Conference Contribution - published
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Abstract
An existing grazing trial on an irrigated Wakanui silt loam at Lincoln
College, Canterbury, was sampled at five consecutive grazings (January
to July, 1983) to determine the effects of pasture utilisation on herbage
composition and in vitro digestibility of regrowth.
Rotational grazing of sheep at two stocking rates, high (27.5
ewes/ha) and low (17.5 ewes/ha), resulted in different levels of
utilisation. Low utilisation (27%) produced a sward with a high dead
material content (44%) and low in vitro digestibility of the whole sward
(<70%). The high stocked sward (utilisation, 60%) had a greater
percentage of green material (83%) but total green yields were only half
those at the low stocking rate. The in vitro digestibility of the sward
under the high stocking rate was Z-70%, mainly as a result of only a
small proportion of dead material with low (46%) digestibility.
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Copyright © The Authors and New Zealand Grassland Association.