Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T10:23:30.486Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some effects of canopy height on perennial ryegrass and white clover in a field sward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. Wilman  and
S. K. Shrestha
D. Wilman
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
S. K. Shrestha
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Eight canopy heights, maintained by weekly cutting, were compared during summer and early autumn on a perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)-white clover (Trifolium repens L.) sward.

Perennial ryegrass adapted to a taller canopy by increasing the length of its leaf blades much more than it increased the length of its leaf sheaths, and by increasing the length of its blades proportionately more than their width. White clover adapted by increasing the length of its petioles much more than it increased the length of its leaflets. Canopy height did not affect the number of ryegrass leaves emerging or dying per tiller or the number of live, emerged leaves maintained by a tiller. The amount of herbage harvested at the weekly cuts was largely unaffected by canopy height once the swards had adapted to the particular management. Leaf blades in the taller canopies, therefore, lost a much lower proportion of their length to defoliation than those in the shorter canopies. Consequently, the length of blade dying per tiller per week was more strikingly affected by canopy height than was the rate of leaf extension. The increasing amount of material lost by death with increasing canopy height was confirmed by the weights of senescent and dead tissue collected weekly from a fixed area in each plot. Herbage in the lower compared with the upper layers of the taller canopies was much less digestible and lower in N content.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 105 , Issue 1 , August 1985 , pp. 79 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Briseño de la Hoz, V. M. & Wilman, D. (1981). Effects of cattle grazing, sheep grazing, cutting and sward height on a grass-white clover sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 97, 699–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faithfull, N. T. (1971). Automated simultaneous determination of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium on the same herbage digest solution. Laboratory Practice 20, 41–44.Google Scholar
Faithfull, N. T. (1974). The analysis of magnesium in herbage Kjeldahl digests by atomic absorption spectrophotometry with the nitrous oxide/acetylene flame. Laboratory Practice 23, 177–178.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J. (1981). Variations in the surface characteristics of the sward and the short-term rate of herbage intake by calves and lambs. Grass and Forage Science 36, 49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, J., Bircham, J. S., Grant, S. A. & King, J. (1981). The influence of cutting and grazing management on herbage growth and utilisation. In Plant Physiology and Herbage Production (ed. Wright, C. E.), pp. 51–62. Occasional Symposium no. 13, British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Jackson, D. K. (1974). Some aspects of production and persistency in relation to height of defoliation of Lolium perenne (var. S. 23). Proceedings XII International Grassland Congress, Moscow, vol. III, pp. 202–214.Google Scholar
Ollerenshaw, J. H. & Hodgson, D. R. (1977). The effects of constant and varying heights of cut on the yield of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 89, 425–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, A. J., Leafe, E. L., Stiles, W. & Collett, B. (1982). The growth of a grass sward under grazing. Report of Grassland Research Institute for 1981, pp. 34–36.Google Scholar
Reid, D. (1967). Studies on the cutting management of grass-clover swards. V. The effect of changes in the closeness of cutting at different times in the season on the yield and quality of herbage from a perennial ryegrass-white clover sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 68, 249–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1970). Soils of North Cardiganshire. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Shrestha, S. K. (1982). The effect of canopy height on a perennial ryegrass-white clover sward with particular reference to senescence and death. M.Sc. dissertation, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.Google Scholar
Tayler, J. C. & Rudman, J. E. (1966). The distribution of herbage at different heights in ‘grazed’ and ‘dung patch’ areas of a sward under two methods of grazing management. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 66, 29–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilley, J. M. A. & Terry, R. A. (1963). A two-stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18, 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar