Persistency and productivity of perennial forage grasses depending on cutting systems
2000
Viiralt, R. | Kabanen, N. (Estonian Agricultural Univ., Tartu (Estonia). Eerika Agronomical Experimental Station)
To study the productivity, nutritive value, persistency and optimum cutting regime of new cultivars of grasses and herbage legume in 1990 a complex field trial on Podzoluvisol soil. To clarify the optimum utilization regime 9 different times of the 1st cut was used in the trial: from the 15th of May to the 20th July, mainly at 7-day intervals. According to the date of the first cutting the annual number of cuts by trial treatments varied in the limits of 2...4: treatm. 1,2 and 3 - four cuts, treatm. 4, 5, 6 and 7 - three cuts, treatm. 8 and 9 - two cuts. Fertilizer background was P 44, K 125 and N 240 kg ha (-3). The testing of cultivars under simulated grazing regime enabled us to estimate their sensitivity to frequent defoliation. As an average of the 9 harvest years the dry matter yield was increased by the reduction in the annual number of cuts: considerably more DM was obtained by 3 or 2 cuts than in the case of 4 ones. At that the CP content in DM of grasses in the case of 2 or 3 cuttings was considerably lower (10,6 per cent and 13,5 per cent, respectively) than the minimum level (14 per cent)required for high-producing dairy cows and in such case the protein rich supplementary feeds are necessary. The grass of legumes, on the contrary, contained CP sufficiently (especially lucerne - 14,2...22,1 per cent)
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Estonian University of Life Sciences