Utilisation of swards over-drilled with a drought-tolerant grass/clover mixture by dairy cow grazing
2007
Golecký, J., Slovak Agricultural Research Centre, Nitra (Slovak Republic)
Farming has been affected by climate changes also in mountain and upland regions of Slovakia. Among the consequences of this phenomenon is that standard grass/legume mixtures fail to provide enough good quality livestock feed. Mainly the dairy cows experience difficulties since they respond to reduced sward volume and quality immediately. In an experiment carried out with dairy cows, a sward over-drilled with grass/clover mixture dominated by Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus, Festuca rubra and Phleum pratense was analysed. The cultivars with the best drought-tolerant qualities were selected. During the 3-year experiment period, the proportion of over-drilled species increased from 8.3 to 34.0 percent, and the yield increased from 5.51 to 7.23 t per hectare. This growth was manifested notable on the milk yield that increased by over 3 kg/head/day. All the three experimental years had temperatures over average (0.7 to 8 percent over long-term average). Considering the precipitation, during the first year an increase in the rainfall activity by 20.1 percent was determined, while during the next two years the rainfall activity was down by 14.1 or 14.9 percent as compared to the long-term average.
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