The effect of grazing severity and fertiliser application during winter on herbage regrowth and quality of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 825 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Lee ◽  
D. J. Donaghy ◽  
J. R. Roche

The objective of the current study was to quantify the effects of greater herbage residuals in winter on leaf appearance rate, herbage accumulation and quality, and plant energy reserves, as well as quantifying the effects nitrogen (N), or phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) fertilisers had on the above measures. Ten pasture areas were grazed to different residual masses (1260 ± 101 and 1868 ± 139 kg DM/ha, Severe and Lax, respectively) over five consecutive days by dry dairy cows. Two randomly located subplots within each grazing area were fertilised with either 50 kg N/ha (N treatment) or 50 kg N/ha, 31 kg S/ha plus 26 kg P/ha (N + S + P treatment) on the day immediately following defoliation (day 1), and were compared with a control subplot. Neither growth rate (15.1 ± 8.1 kg DM/ha.day), nor leaf appearance rate (15.1 ± 0.3 days per new leaf) differed between treatments. As a result, herbage accumulated over the 49 days of regrowth was similar across grazing treatments and averaged 726 kg DM/ha. Application of N + S + P tended to increase total herbage accumulated during regrowth compared with either the control or N treatment subplots (860 v. 675 and 643 kg DM/ha, respectively), likely a result of increased tiller density. Swards defoliated more severely had lower initial water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations compared with swards laxly defoliated, but this difference had disappeared before appearance of the third new leaf. Herbage quality improved in the Severe treatment subplots after emergence of the third new leaf, with higher digestibility, greater WSC and metabolisable energy, and lower fibre content than in laxly grazed subplots.

Author(s):  
J.M. Lee ◽  
D.J. Donaghy ◽  
J.R. Roche

Grazing management is concerned with managing the interactions between plants and animals. Two management factors that require consideration are the optimal grazing time and the effect of grazing severity on subsequent regrowth. The objective of the current study was to quantify the effect of grazing severity in winter on leaf appearance r ate , herbage accumulation and quality, and plant energy r eserves. Ten pasture areas were grazed to two different residual masses (1260 ± 101 and 1868 ± 139 kg dry matter (DM)/ha, Severe and Lax, respectively) over five consecutive days by dry dairy cows. Neither growth rate (average 15 kg DM/ha/day), nor leaf appearance rate (average 16 days/new leaf) differed between treatments. As a result, herbage accumulated over the 49-day regrowth period was similar between grazing treatments (736 and 715 kg DM/ha for Severe and Lax, respectively), although herbage mass when three new leaves had emerged on regrowing tillers (third leaf stage) was greater on the laxly grazed treatment. Perennial ryegrass plants defoliated more severely displayed a trend for lower levels of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) than plants defoliated more laxly, but this difference had disappeared by the third leaf stage of regrowth. Pasture quality was improved in the severely defoliated treatment, with higher digestibility, WSC and metabolisable energy (ME) concentrations, and (ADF) lower acid and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) concentrations. Keywords: grazing sever ity, herbage production, water-soluble carbohydrates


2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Tozer ◽  
J. R. Crush ◽  
R. M. Greenfield ◽  
C. A. Cameron

The effect of moisture deficit on herbage production, root growth, tiller density, leaf appearance, percentage dry matter, and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentration and content in the stubble of Epichloë endophyte-infected perennial ryegrass plants (cultivars Aberdart AR1, Bealey NEA2, One50 AR37, Trojan NEA2) was investigated in a glasshouse study. Water was withheld from half the plants for 6 weeks, followed by a 4-week recovery period, when all plants were watered. At the end of the treatment period, there were differences among cultivars in tiller density, moisture content of the herbage, WSC content of stubble, and root mass. However, there was little effect of moisture deficit on these variables or on root depth. At the end of the recovery period, previously moisture-stressed plants had increased leaf appearance by 25%, leafy-herbage mass by 29%, and low molecular-weight WSC content of stubble by 37% compared with well watered plants, but there was a decrease in root mass in some cultivars. There were differences among cultivars in tiller density, the moisture content of the herbage and stubble WSC content. The effects of previous moisture deficit were greatest during the recovery period, and differed among cultivars, for stubble, root and total plant biomass. Results suggested that avoiding overgrazing immediately after drought is just as critical for recovery as is management during a drought, given that the greatest responses to previous moisture deficit were detected during this period.


2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Lawson ◽  
K. B. Kelly ◽  
P. W. G. Sale

The effects of defoliation frequency (2 or 6 defoliations over a 91-day period) on the reserve status and growth rate of 2 white clover cultivars, cvv. Irrigation (medium-leafed) and Haifa (large-leafed), were examined over the final 42 days of the defoliation treatments. The clover plants consisted of single stolons growing in a sand/scoria mix in an unheated glasshouse, and were fertilised weekly with a solution containing essential nutrients excluding nitrogen. More frequent defoliation reduced the leaf appearance rate, stolon elongation rate, and plant size, and increased stolon death, with all of these effects being less pronounced in Irrigation than in Haifa (18% v. 30%, 60% v. 80%, and 23% v 34%, respectively, for leaf appearance rates, stolon elongation rates, and the proportion of stolon length that died). With infrequent defoliation, the combined utilisation of starch and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) reserves in the first 14 days after defoliation was equivalent to 15% of the plant weight at defoliation, and to 95% of the new leaf produced during that period. Frequent defoliation reduced the reserve content and remobilisation less in Irrigation than in Haifa, with the combined mass of remobilised starch and WSC over the first 14 days after defoliation being 2.9% and 2.0% of the plant weight at defoliation, and 29% and 19% of leaf production over that period, for Irrigation and Haifa, respectively. The greater reserve mobilisation in Irrigation than in Haifa plants under frequent defoliation probably contributed to their higher growth rates and reduced stolon death. These cultivar differences with frequent defoliation suggest that Irrigation is more suited to frequent defoliation than Haifa.


2013 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 371-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos F Silva ◽  
Edson M. V Porto ◽  
Dorismar D Alves ◽  
Cláudio M.T Vitor ◽  
Ignacio Aspiazú

This study aims to evaluate the morphogenetic characteristics of three cultivars of Brachiaria brizantha subjected to nitrogen fertilization. The design was a randomized block in factorial arrangement 4x3; three cultivars of B. brizantha - Marandu, Piatã, Xaraés and four nitrogen levels - 0, 80, 160 and 240 kg/ha, with three replications. The experimental units consisted of plastic pots filled with 5 dm3 of soil. Thereupon the establishment fertilization, varieties were sowed directly in the pots, leaving, after thinning, five plants per pot. Forty-five days after planting, it was done a standardization cut at 10 cm tall. Nitrogen levels were distributed according to the treatments, divided in three applications. The morphogenetic characteristics were evaluated in three tillers per sampling unit and data were submitted to analysis of variance and regression. For all evaluated characteristics there was no interaction between factors cultivar and nitrogen levels, verifying only the effects of nitrogen on the variables leaf appearance rate and phyllochron. The dose 240 kg/ha of N corresponds to the greater leaf appearance rate. Cultivar Marandu shows the higher leaf blade: pseudostem and ratio of leaf elongation rate and elongation pseudostem, which favors higher forage quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Vidal ◽  
B Andrieu

Abstract Background and Aims The dynamics of plant architecture is a central aspect of plant and crop models. Most models assume that whole shoot development is orchestrated by the leaf appearance rate, which follows a thermal time schedule. However, leaf appearance actually results from leaf extension and taking it as an input hampers our ability to understand shoot construction. The objective of the present study was to assess a modelling framework for grasses, in which the emergence of leaves and other organs is explicitly calculated as a result of their extension. Methods The approach builds on a previous model, which uses a set of rules co-ordinating the timing of development within and between phytomers. We first assessed rule validity for four experimental datasets, including different cultivars, planting densities and environments, and accordingly revised the equations driving the extension of the upper leaves and of internodes. We then fitted model parameters for each dataset and evaluated the ability to simulate the measured phenotypes across time. Finally, we carried out a sensitivity analysis to identify the parameters that had the greatest impact and to investigate model behaviour. Key Results The modified version of the model simulated correctly the contrasting maize phenotypes. Co-ordination rules accounted for the observations in all studied cultivars. Factors with major impact on model output included extension rates, the time of tassel initiation and initial conditions. A large diversity of phenotypes could be simulated. Conclusions This work provides direct experimental evidence for co-ordination rules and illustrates the capacity of the model to represent contrasting phenotypes. These rules play an important role in patterning shoot architecture and some of them need to be assessed further, considering contrasting growth conditions. To make the model more predictive, several parameters could be considered in the future as internal variables driven by plant status.


1974 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Davies

SUMMARYWhen one or two leaves were removed out of the three or sometimes four present on each tiller of five genotypes of perennial ryegrass grown in nutrient solution, it was found that the relative growth rate (RGR) was not much less than that of untreated plants. The removal of lower leaves had no effect on RGR. Removal of all leaf blades depressed RGR. It is suggested that the results obtained indicate that the plant has the capacity to compensate for loss of leaf tissue by increased activity in the remaining leaves. Leaf appearance rate and tiller production were found to be the attributes most sensitive to the defoliation treatments imposed, and the degree to which leaf appearance rates were affected by defoliation was found to be a good indicator of the regrowth capacity of the different genotypes. Evidence was obtained linking high regrowth potential with high relative increases in the proportion of plant material allocated to new shoot growth.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pararajasingham ◽  
L. A. Hunt

Research on genotypic variation in the response of leaf-area production and expansion to photoperiod in wheat is limited. Growth-cabinet experiments using four spring and four winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and four photoperiod (8, 12, 16 and 20 h) treatments were thus conducted with the objective of investigating the effect of photoperiod on leaf appearance rate and leaf dimensions. Winter wheats were grown without vernalization. In the spring wheats, flag leaves and spikes were formed under the longer photoperiod (16 and 20 h) treatments, and leaf number increased linearly with time. At the shorter photoperiods, flag leaves and spikes appeared in some cultivars only, and the rate of increase in leaf number decreased in the later stages. Final leaf number was greater at shorter photoperiods. In the winter cultivars, more leaves appeared than in the spring types under the longer photoperiods. For leaves 3–7, leaf number was a linear function of time, with photoperiod and cultivar effects. For one of four spring cultivars, the rate of leaf appearance was greater at 8 h than at 20 h, whereas for three of the winter cultivars the reverse was true. Leaf length increased with leaf number up to at least nodes 5–6 for both spring and winter types but decreased for the later-formed leaves for the spring but not for the winter types. Leaves of plants grown under photoperiods longer than 8 h were longer and broader than those grown under the short photoperiod, and the effect was more pronounced in winter than in spring cultivars. Such genotypic differences in the direct effects of photoperiod on leaf dimensions, which could influence the rates of leaf-area production and dry-matter accumulation under field conditions, emphasize that future studies should incorporate genotypes from different eco-physiological regions and that simulation models of wheat growth and development may need to account for variability in the control of vegetative growth. Key words: Wheat, photoperiod, leaf appearance rate, leaf length, leaf width


2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Scheneiter ◽  
Beatriz Rosso ◽  
Mauro Corletto

When breeding temperate forage species is investigated, some attributes such as herbage accumulation and seasonal growth patterns have to be considered. To modify some of these traits, knowledge of the detailed process might be useful. In order to evaluate seasonal growth of contrasting white clover populations an experiment was carried out. Treatments were five cultivars and three local populations collected in Argentina. Weekly measures were taken during each season to calculate leaf appearance and flower appearance rates, stolon growing rate and dry matter (DM) net accumulation. Different germplasm of this species have different mechanisms for DM accumulation. Leaf size, more than leaf appearance rate, was the variable with most differences among germplasm and mostly related to dry matter accumulation. During spring and summer, inflorescences production had important effects on growing stolon rate, and differences among germplasm were evident. Some local populations showed favourable attributes that could be useful for breeding.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 2099
Author(s):  
Priscila Beligoli Fernandes ◽  
Carlos Augusto Brandão de Carvalho ◽  
Domingos Sávio Campos Paciullo ◽  
Carlos Augusto De Miranda Gomide ◽  
Mirton José Frota Morenz ◽  
...  

This work was carried out to evaluate the morphogenetic and structural characteristics of basal and aerial tillers of two dwarf elephant grass clones (BRS Kurumi and CNPGL 00-1-3) managed under intermittent stocking in six grazing cycles. A completely randomized experimental design with three replications (paddocks) in split-split-plot arrangements was used. The clones were allocated to the plots, tiller classes were assigned to the subplots and grazing cycles to sub subplots. Higher values for basal tillers than aerial tillers were seen for the following characteristics: leaf elongation rate (12.8 and 5.1 cm/tiller/day), leaf appearance rate (0.26 and 0.19 leaves/tiller/day), stem elongation rate (0.38 and 0.16 cm/tiller/day), senescence rate (0.98 and 0.47 cm/tiller/day), total number of leaves (9.3 and 7.1 leaves/ tiller), number of live leaves (7.7 and 5.8 leaves/tiller) and final length of leaf blades (33.5 and 20.0 cm). Phyllochron was lower for basal (4.0 days/leaf) than aerial tillers (5.5 days/leaf). The leaf life span increased with the advance of the grazing cycles, averaging 31.2 days. The tiller density increased with the advance of the grazing cycles showing an average increase of 167% of aerial tillers and 62% of basal tillers for both clones. The morphogenetic and structural characteristics of dwarf clones were influenced jointly by the clones and the availability of the environmental factors of growth during the spring and summer. The high leaf elongation rates, associated with high leaf appearance rate, reveal the potential of high production dry matter of leaves and restoration of leaf area after grazing.


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