The productivity of grazing sheep was assessed under 7-year-old rubber
at the Rubber Research
Institute of the Malaysia Experimental Station at Sungai Buloh near Kuala
Lumpur between October
1988 and May 1990. The sheep were Dorset × Marlin crossbred lambs and they
grazed planted
leguminous cover crops and naturally occurring species at a range of
stocking rates.In the immature rubber trial, presentation yields of forage declined
with time regardless of stocking
rate. In the mature rubber trial, presentation yields of forage were low
(<1000 kg/ha) due to low
light transmission. High stocking rates (>6 sheep/ha) resulted in a
decrease in the proportion of
palatable species, namely Pueraria phaseoloides, Paspalum
conjugatum, Asystasia gangetica and
Mikania micrantha and an increase in the proportion of the less
palatable species such as
Calopogonium caeruleum and Cyrtococcum oxyphyllum.Daily liveweight gains ranged from 100 g/lamb per day at 4 sheep/ha to
70 g/lamb per day at
14 sheep/ha in the immature rubber trial. Only the lowest stocking rate of
2 sheep/ha was
continuously sustainable in the mature rubber trial. The estimated maximum
liveweight gain that
could be achieved under immature rubber was 266 kg/ha per year at a
stocking rate of 13·2 sheep/ha.
Heating rate effects on the crystallization behavior of isotactic polypropylene from mesophase – A de-polarized light transmission study
