Botanical and chemcial composition of a Townsville stylo-spear grass pasture in relation to conception rate of cows

1971 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 993 ◽  
Author(s):  
JB Ritson ◽  
LA Edye ◽  
PJ Robinson

A previously described experiment designed to study the effect of stocking rate, superphosphate, and conservation of hay on the fertility of cows had shown that only superphosphate significantly increased the conception rate. The present paper discusses the nutritional adequacy of the pastures for breeding cows. All experimental factors significantly influenced yield and botanical composition. Pastures at the lower of two stocking rates remained dominated by perennial grasses while those at the higher rate became dominated by Townsville stylo and annual grasses. Conservation of hay increased annual species, and superphosphate increased Townsville stylo in lightly grazed pastures. Pasture yield was adequate at the lower stocking rate but became limiting at the higher rate. Superphosphate increased pasture yields during the third and fourth year. Superphosphate increased the phosphorus and sulphur contents of the three major components —Townsville stylo, perennial grasses, and annual grasses, the nitrogen content of Townsville stylo, and the sodium content of perennial and annual grasses. Stocking rate affected chemical composition in the third and fourth year: the high stocking rate increased the nitrogen contents of the three major components, the phosphorus and sulphur contents of Townsville stylo and perennial grasses, and the sodium contents of perennial and annual grasses. Cow conception rate was significantly and positively correlated with the phosphorus contents of the three major components, the sulphur content of Townsville stylo, and three yield attributes of annual grasses (dry matter, phosphorus, and nitrogen yield). The phosphorus content of all three components was less than 0.15% for much of the year at the two lower rates of superphosphate; only at the highest rate did the pastures approach an adequate phosphorus content for pregnant and lactating cows. Phosphorus and sulphur deficiency could have limited the utilization of Townsville stylo protein by cattle on unfertilized pastures. Superphosphate at a rate of 126 kg/ha a year was adequate for maintaining Townsville stylo above the critical plant value for phosphorus, but inadequate to satisfy the phosphorus requirements of pregnant and lactating cows.


1971 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 963 ◽  
Author(s):  
LA Edye ◽  
JB Ritson ◽  
KP Haydock ◽  
Davies J Griffiths

An experiment was conducted to examine the fertility and seasonal changes in liveweight of cows grazing a Townsville stylo–spear grass pasture for over 4 years. There were two replicates of 12 treatments, which were factorial combinations of two stocking rates and three levels of superphosphate with and without conservation of hay. All experimental factors influenced cow liveweight. Cows on the pastures receiving superphosphate were heavier throughout the experiment than cows on unfertilized (F0) pasture; in most years there was little difference between pastures receiving superphosphate at 377 kg/ha (F3) and 126 kg/ha per year (F1). Stocking rate and conservation of hay had smaller but significant effects throughout the experiment. There were also marked seasonal fluctuations in cow liveweight associated with the amount and distribution of rainfall. Superphosphate was the only treatment that significantly affected conception and calving rate (F3 > F1, F0 at P < 0.01). Numerical analyses published elsewhere of average cow liveweight before and after mating and of conception rate strongly indicated a direct effect of superphosphate on conception rate that could not be explained by liveweight differences. This effect was primarily associated with the highest rate of superphosphate (F3), the F1 effect being more equivocal. There were significant differences between the three rates of superphosphate in the rate of change of cow liveweight during the first lactation (F3 > F1 > F0 at P < 0.05) but the differences appeared inadequate to influence conception rate markedly. Without fodder conservation, 1 cow unit to 2.4 ha was a safe stocking rate for fertilized pastures. This is three to four times the carrying capacity of unimproved spear grass pastures in the region.



1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (85) ◽  
pp. 197 ◽  
Author(s):  
RG Holroyd ◽  
PJ Allan ◽  
PK O'Rourke

A study was made over a four year period ( 1970-1 973) on the reproductive performance of cows grazing either native pasture stocked at 1 breeder 4.9 ha-1 or native pasture oversown with Townsville stylo (Stylosanthes humilis) and fertilized with superphosphate, stocked at 1 breeder 2.4 ha-1. Animals were supplemented on each pasture type with combinations of molasses, urea and phosphorus at various times of the year. Mating from September 1 to January 31 resulted in animals lactating during the dry season. At double the stocking rate, lactating cows on fertilized pastures had similar conception rates to those on native pasture. During a prolonged dry season, lactating cows on fertilized pasture had twice the conception rate and fewer required survival feeding. Urea compared with non-urea based supplements produced significant increases in conception rates of cows grazing native pasture especially during a dry year. Calves were born earlier, had shorter intercalving intervals and fewer cows had to be fed a survival ration when urea was available. On fertilized pasture, urea based supplements caused only a marginal increase in conception rate except in a dry year, when there was a significant increase. Over the four years, there was a diminishing response in the conception rate of lactating cows grazing native pasture and supplemented with phosphorus during the wet season compared with the control. On fertilized pasture, there was a variable but non-significant response. The addition of phosphorus either as a wet or dry season supplement to urea caused variable responses on each pasture type, but none differed significantly from that of urea.



1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PM Dowling ◽  
DR Kemp ◽  
DL Michalk ◽  
TA Klein ◽  
GD Millar

The influence of grazing management, herbicide and fertiliser on botanical change in two perennial grass based pastures was assessed over six years at two sites in central New South Wales. Ten treatments at both sites compared continuous grazing, three seasonal rests from grazing (autumn, winter, summer), and herbicide application for seedling grass control, each at two levels of fertiliser addition (nil, recommended). These treatments were designed to screen options for management rather than devise complete systems. In a degraded perennial pasture dominated by annual grasses, the proportion of perennial grasses and forbs increased with summer rests, especially at the recommended fertiliser level. Legumes increased with herbicide application, and annual grasses remained high in the continuously grazed control and other treatments. There were no significant effects on composition from autumn or winter rests. On the summer rest treatment at the recommended fertiliser level, perennial grasses (mostly cocksfoot) increased from 11% to 30% compared with the control where perennial grass declined below 5%. The increase was due to both recruitment and increase in size of existing plants, as a consequence of resting the perennial grasses when actively growing, flowering and setting seed, in favourable seasons. In contrast, on the better quality perennial pasture dominated by phalaris, there were limited management effects and perennial grasses increased on all treatments over time. The absence of a response at this site was attributed to a lenient stocking rate, dominant perennial grasses and limited rainfall during periods when active growth might be expected. Summer rests in this case also led to a small increase in forbs. The data suggest that perennial grasses can be encouraged with a conservative stocking policy that maintains the available feed-on-offer above 1 t DM/ha through seasons of active growth.



1975 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
WT Williams ◽  
LA Edye

A new method is described for analysing sequential results from animals in a reproductive situation. The elements of each sequence are labelled according to whether the animal is pregnant or not, and lactating or not; the resulting labelled sequences are used for analysis, and animals are compared only when they are in the same state at the same time. It is suggested that such a method obviates the necessity for correcting for the weight of the foetus, and thus enables animals which are not in exact reproductive synchrony to be directly compared. The method involves the computation of a dissimilarity matrix, which can be subjected to classificatory or ordination techniques and subsequent statistical analyses. The method is applied to a grazing experiment in the dry tropics, and is shown to produce novel and informative results. The fertility and seasonal changes in liveweight of cows grazing a Townsville stylo-spear grass pasture were examined over 32 months. There were four randomized blocks of six treatments, which were factorial combinations of two stocking rates and three rates of superphosphate. Superphosphate significantly affected fertility and liveweight, and the highest fertility was obtained at the intermediate fertilizer rate. Stocking rate affected liveweights only. There were greater liveweight differences between the four reproductive states than between treatments within a reproductive state. The largest treatment differences occurred in nonpregnant, non-lactating cows grazing fertilized as against unfertilized pastures.



1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 621
Author(s):  
R. L. McCown ◽  
G. G. Murtha ◽  
J. B. F. Field


Author(s):  
N. I. Kasatkina ◽  
Zh. S. Nelyubina

The biological properties of plants, their mutual relations under different growth conditions and at different periods of their life, must be known for obtaining highly productive agrophytocenoses with participation of a meadow clover (Trifolium pratense L.). Botanical composition and fodder productivity of perennial grasses in agrocenoses with participation of meadow tetraploid clover Kudesnik were studied in 2014-2017. It was revealed that in the first and second years of use the agrophytocenosis, the yield of green mass was formed due to meadow tetraploid clover, the share of its participation in the first mowing was at level of 71-87% and 64-97% respectively. Specific weight of clover in multispecies agrocenoses considerably decreased by the third year of use: in the first mowing up to 32-68%, in the second - up to 8-52%. At the same time, the percentage of long-term herbaceous grasses increased: meadow timothy (Phleum pratense L.) - up to 34-54%, eastern galega (Galéga orientális Lam.) - up to 33%, changeable alfalfa (Medicago x varia Martyn) - up to 22-54%, lotus corniculatus (Lotus corniculatus L.) - up to 14-19%. The proportion of weed admixture in single-species clover planting was 12%, in agrocenoses - 2-14%. The grass mixtures clover + timothy and clover + alfalfa + timothy were less infested by weeds. High yield of dry weight of single-species sowing of meadow tetraploid clover was obtained in the first two years of use - 7.8 and 6.5 tons / ha, respectively. By the third year of use, the productivity of clover has decreased to 2.9 t / ha. On average, for three years of use, the highest yield (6.2-6.3 t / ha) was formed by agrocenoses meadow tetraploid clover + meadow timothy and meadow tetraploid clover + changeable alfalfa + meadow timothy.



2014 ◽  
Vol 955-959 ◽  
pp. 3474-3478
Author(s):  
Tie Jun Sun

Experiment was executed to plant Bromus inermis artificially in the degraded ecosystem, and study effect of grass planting on vegetation restoration. The results indicated that natural vegetation restored rapidly in the degraded ecosystem in two years after grass planted. But species diversity changed little in the early period of vegetation restoration, while vegetation biomass, coverage and anti-interference improved quickly. In addition, species number and important value of perennial grasses increased while those of annual grasses decreased. Then community composition with annual plants mainly changed gradually into that with perennial plants mainly after Bromus inermis planted. However, overground biomass and coverage of restored vegetation and dominance of Bromus inermis planted decreased after vegetation cut once a year. And species diversity and important value of annual grasses increased. Thus it could be good for uniformity of species distribution and stability of community composition and structure to develop.



1999 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Le Cozier ◽  
E. Ringmar-Cederberg ◽  
S. Johansen ◽  
J. Y. Dourmad ◽  
M. Neil ◽  
...  

AbstractFrom 74 to 180 days of age, a complete diet was offered either ad libitum (AL) or at proportionately 0·8 of the observed consumption (R) to two groups of purebred Yorkshire gilts, comprising 128 and 127 animals, respectively. Half of the animals in each group was served at the first detected oestrus, and the other half at the third detected oestrus, according to a plan defined at the start of the experiment. Animals which failed to show oestrus before 240 days of age were culled.At 100 kg live weight (LW), AL gilts were younger (-20 days) and had thicker backfat (+2.3 mm) than R gilts. At the first detected oestrus, AL females were also younger (198 v. 203 days), heavier (127 v. 117 kg LW) and fatter (17·8 v. 14·7 mm backfat thickness) than R gilts. No difference between feeding treatments during rearing was observed in the percentage of females detected on heat before day 240. Seventy-three animals were culled from the start of the experiment until service, half of them (54%) failing to show oestrus. At service, LW and backfat thickness in the four treatments ranged from 117 to 148 kg LW and 14·9 to 19·7 mm, respectively. The body fatness, estimated from the ratio of backfat to LW, was higher in AL than in R gilts (0·14 and 0·12 , respectively), whereas no difference was observed between E1 and E3 gilts (0·13 on average). After the first service 15% of the gilts came back into heat but the conception rate was not affected by feeding treatment during rearing.



2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ebrahim Ahmed ◽  
Hussain Yawr Hussain

Thirty-six local dose have been used and were divided in to three groups sacording to weight, in each group twelve dose. In the first group the weights of the dose were higher than ( 2.5 kgs) and less than (3 kgs). The second groups was higher than 3 kgs) and less than (3.5 kgs). The third group was higher than (3.5 kgs) and less than (4 kgs). The aim of this study was to obtain the effect of doe weight on her reproductive efficiency (gestation period, litter size, litter weight at birth and weaning, growth rate of offspring preweaning, conception rate and preweaning mortility).  The weight of the doe had no significant effect upon the gestation period and this period was 30.9, 31.2, 31.3 days for the three groups respectively, on the other hand the litter size was affected significantly by doe weight and litter size was at birth and preaweaning (5.1 , 5.8 and 6.2), (4.5, 5.3 and 5.7) for the three groups respectively. The offspring weight at birth and weaning was affected significantly by doe weight and this weight was (40.1 , 48.2 and 53.3 gms), (203.6, 227.5 and 233.8 gms) for the three groups respectively while the conception rate was not affected by doe weight. The mortility percentage in the prewaning period was not significantly by doe weight



Author(s):  
А.А. Анисимов ◽  
П.И. Комахин ◽  
В.Н. Золотарев

Важнейшей проблемой продовольственной безопасности страны является уровень обеспеченности населения молочными продуктами. В связи с этим большое значение имеет опыт работы передовых хозяйств такого профиля в определённых почвенно-климатических и природно-экологических условиях. ФГБУ «Опытная станция «Пойма» является одним из наиболее эффективных хозяйств в Московской области по производству молока. Общая площадь сельскохозяйственных угодий составляет 6135 га, из них 2000 га пашни. В структуре посевных площадей 95% и более занимают кормовые культуры, в том числе 12–14% — однолетние травы, 68–70% — многолетние травы и природные кормовые угодья, 15–16% — кукуруза на силос. Основное производство кормов сосредоточено на высокоплодородных пойменных землях, на долю которых приходится 84% кормовых угодий. В статье изложены результаты системного применения достижений науки и передового опыта по стабильному производству высококачественных объёмистых кормов. Проведён анализ состояния кормопроизводства и животноводства хозяйства с 1982 по 2020 год, освещены научные подходы к увеличению производства кормов и животноводческой продукции. Системное освоение передовых научных разработок по созданию высокопродуктивных кормовых посевов и стабильному производству высококачественных объёмистых кормов, их рациональному хранению и использованию, техническая модернизация позволили увеличить среднегодовой надой на корову с 4079 до 9708 кг, или более чем в 2,3 раза, при одновременном снижении расхода кормов на 1 кг молока с 1,37 до 0,90 корм. ед. при повышении рентабельности с 16 до 28%. Food safety of the country is highly affected by the availability of milk products. Therefore, the experience of leading farms is of great importance under certain environmental conditions. The Research Station “Poyma” is one of the leading milk producers in the Moscow region. Its fields occupy around 6135 ha. The proportion of forage crops amounts to 95% including 12–14% of annual grasses, 68–70% of perennial grasses and natural forage lands as well as 15–16% of maize for silage production. 84% of the total cultivation area are high-fertile floodlands. This article focuses on the application of the latest scientific findings and advanced experience for stable production of high-quality bulk fodder. The efficiency of forage production and Animal Husbandry was analyzed in the period from 1982 to 2020. The methods and practices were reviewed to optimize forage and animal product resources. Average annual milk yield was improved from 4079 to 9708 kg per cow, or by more than 2.3 times due to the introduction of the latest findings into the production process including the cultivation of high-productive forage crops, stabilization of bulk fodder supplies, feed effective storage and use. Forage consumption dropped from 1.37 to 0.90 feed units for the production of 1 kg of milk, payback increased from 16 to 28%.



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