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Agronomic performance of summer forage crops on a Waikato dry-stock farm

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posted on 2023-08-20, 21:27 authored by Tracy DaleTracy Dale, Katherine TozerKatherine Tozer, Phil Weir, Maryann StaincliffeMaryann Staincliffe

Forage crops options are required by dry-stock farmers to fill summer feed gaps. This trial compared a brassica monoculture with simple and hyper-diverse mixtures containing up to 21 forage species sown in October on a Waikato dry-stock farm. Two of the twelve treatments were established at paddock scale. Species included rape, oats, plantain and red clover. Seedling emergence was assessed four weeks after sowing and herbage production, metabolisable energy and botanical composition in mid-January. Rape was common in all mixtures for the provision of high-quality forage. Oats suppressed rape production, even at low sowing rates (<13 kg/ha), and reduced weed ingress. Plantain, sown at <2 kg/ha, contributed negligible dry matter in mid-January but provided ground cover and additional forage by late February. Red clover failed to establish. Most diverse treatments provided a similar energy yield (MJ ME/ha) to rape. Simple mixtures and hyper diverse mixtures were similar for most metrics. Results at plot and paddock scale were consistent for the energy yield effects. When these data were combined with production costs, the energy costs were similar for most treatments. The most promising was a rape dominant mixture, with high energy yield, low weed abundance and low energy costs.

Funding

Our Land and Water (RPRPF044)

History

Rights statement

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Rights granted to the New Zealand Grassland Association through this agreement are non-exclusive. You are free to publish the work(s) elsewhere and no ownership is assumed by the NZGA when storing or curating an electronic version of the work(s).

Publication date

2023-05-16

Project number

  • Non revenue

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

NZ Grassland Association

Journal title

Journal of New Zealand Grasslands

ISSN

2463-2872

Volume/issue number

84

Page numbers

103-114

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