A Review of Precision Technologies for Optimising Pasture Measurement on Irish Grassland

The development of precision grass measurement technologies is of vital importance to securing the future sustainability of pasture-based livestock production systems. There is potential to increase grassland production in a sustainable manner by achieving a more precise measurement of pasture quantity and quality. This review presents an overview of the most recent seminal research pertaining to the development of precision grass measurement technologies. One of the main obstacles to precision grass measurement, sward heterogeneity, is discussed along with optimal sampling techniques to address this issue. The limitations of conventional grass measurement techniques are outlined and alternative new terrestrial, proximal, and remote sensing technologies are presented. The possibilities of automating grass measurement and reducing labour costs are hypothesised and the development of holistic online grassland management systems that may facilitate these goals are further outlined.

Biological nitrification inhibition and forage productivity of Megathyrsus maximus in Colombian dry tropics

Agronomic, nutritional, and environmental aspects are integrated to promote sustainable tropical grassland production. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) is a plant-based strategy to improve nitrogen use efficiency by grasses in which they suppress the pace of soil nitrification via exudation of inhibitory compounds. To evaluate the effect of BNI on the productive performance of Megathyrsus maximus under field conditions, we evaluated a collection of 27 germplasm accessions and commercial cultivars of the forage grass in the dry tropics of Colombia. We measured plant yield dry matter, nutrition quality parameters, and nitrification rates of soil at 22 months after pasture establishment. Our results highlighted germplasm accessions of superior agronomic performance (for dry matter production and nutrition quality) and high capacity to decrease nitrification. Although no relation was observed between agronomic aspects, nutritional aspects, and nitrification rates, we conclude that there is no agronomic or nutritional penalty on environmentally friendly grasses, and BNI could be adopted as a target trait in plant breeding programs toward the development of eco-efficient forages and contribute to the sustainable intensification of livestock systems.

Ruminant grassland production systems in Ireland

In Ireland grazing systems provide the basis of sustainable livestock production, as grazed grass is the cheapest feed source of nutrients for ruminants. The main future objective for these systems is to achieve high grass utilisation, ensure system sustainability and maintain extremely high animal health and welfare. There is no reason why all three cannot be combined together. Ireland’s national farm policy targets growth in exports to €19 billion per annum by 2025. This figure represents an 85% increase from the current 3-yr average. There are major improvements required in the areas of grassland management and its conversion into milk and meat to fulfil such a target. While every farm situation is unique due to varying soil types, climatic conditions, stocking rates and management capabilities, herbage production and utilisation is below optimum on most farms. Irish farms, especially dairy farms, are expanding and will continue to do so over the next number of years. Increasing stocking rates and more compact calving and lambing has resulted in increased spring feed demand. Extra grass needs be grown and utilised in this period to minimise the use of supplementary feed. This paper outlines the importance of grassland on Irish farms, and where farms can improve grassland management, to increase output, lower farm costs and improve further farm system sustainability.

Remote Sensing of Grassland Production and Management—A Review

Grasslands cover one third of the earth’s terrestrial surface and are mainly used for livestock production. The usage type, use intensity and condition of grasslands are often unclear. Remote sensing enables the analysis of grassland production and management on large spatial scales and with high temporal resolution. Despite growing numbers of studies in the field, remote sensing applications in grassland biomes are underrepresented in literature and less streamlined compared to other vegetation types. By reviewing articles within research on satellite-based remote sensing of grassland production traits and management, we describe and evaluate methods and results and reveal spatial and temporal patterns of existing work. In addition, we highlight research gaps and suggest research opportunities. The focus is on managed grasslands and pastures and special emphasize is given to the assessment of studies on grazing intensity and mowing detection based on earth observation data. Grazing and mowing highly influence the production and ecology of grassland and are major grassland management types. In total, 253 research articles were reviewed. The majority of these studies focused on grassland production traits and only 80 articles were about grassland management and use intensity. While the remote sensing-based analysis of grassland production heavily relied on empirical relationships between ground-truth and satellite data or radiation transfer models, the used methods to detect and investigate grassland management differed. In addition, this review identified that studies on grassland production traits with satellite data often lacked including spatial management information into the analyses. Studies focusing on grassland management and use intensity mostly investigated rather small study areas with homogeneous intensity levels among the grassland parcels. Combining grassland production estimations with management information, while accounting for the variability among grasslands, is recommended to facilitate the development of large-scale continuous monitoring and remote sensing grassland products, which have been rare thus far.