Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:01:05.190Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Uptake, cycling and fate of nitrogen in grass-clover swards continuously grazed by sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. J. Parsons
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute for Grassland and Animal Production, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 SLR, UK
R. J. Orr
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute for Grassland and Animal Production, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 SLR, UK
P. D. Penning
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute for Grassland and Animal Production, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 SLR, UK
D. R. Lockyer
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute for Grassland and Animal Production, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 SLR, UK
J. C. Ryden
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute for Grassland and Animal Production, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 SLR, UK

Summary

Components of the N cycle were studied at Hurley, UK, in 1985–87. In grass-clover (Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens) swards, grazed at three intensities, low total inputs of N were associated with low outputs and losses of N. Nevertheless, the flows (intake and excretion) of N through animals were substantial and gave rise, at the higher intensities of grazing, to an acceptably high agricultural output per hectare. This was considered evidence of a fast and efficient recycling of N between plants, animals and soil. The release of N to the environment (as nitrogenous gases and nitrate) was substantially less from the grass–clover swards than from a grass sward fertilized with 420 kg N/ha, and this was at the expense of only 20% loss in production. The mechanisms which might account for the high efficiency of utilization and recycling of N in grass–clover swards are discussed in the context of the balance of the supply of C and N to plant and soil biomasses under grazing. The results confirm that optimizing agricultural output in grass–clover swards has little adverse effect on the environment, but the importance to this end of sustaining a large proportion of N-deficient grass in grass-clover swards is emphasized.

Type
Crops and Soils
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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

Ball, P. R. (1979). Nitrogen relationships in grazed and cut grass–clover systems. PhD thesis, Massey University, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Ball, P. R. & Keeney, D. R. (1983). Nitrogen losses from urine-affected areas of a New Zealand pasture under contrasting seasonal conditions. In Proceedings of the 4th International Grassland Congress, Lexington (Eds Smith, J. & Hays, V.), pp. 342344. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ball, P. R., Keeney, D. R., Theobald, P. W. & Nes, P. (1979). Nitrogen balances in urine-affected areas of a New Zealand pasture. Agronomy Journal 71, 309314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, P. R. & Ryden, J. C. (1984). Nitrogen relationships in intensively managed temperate grasslands. Plant and Soil 76, 2333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clement, C. R., Jones, L. H. P., Hopper, M. J. & Hatch, D. J. (1977). Uptake of ions from solutions of controlled composition. In Annual Report of the Grassland Research Institute 1977, p. 28. Hurley: GRI.Google Scholar
Cowling, D. W. (1982). Biological nitrogen fixation and grassland production in the United Kingdom. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B296, 397404.Google Scholar
Davidson, I. A. & Robson, M. J. (1985). Effect of nitrogen supply on the grass and clover components of simulated mixed swards grown under favourable environmental conditions. 2. Nitrogen fixation and nitrate uptake. Annals of Botany 55, 697703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doak, B. W. (1952). Some chemical changes in the nitrogenous constituents of urine when voided on pasture. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 42, 162171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, C. J. (1988). The economics of replacing grass with grass–clover. In The Grassland Debate: White Clover versus Applied Nitrogen. Stoneleigh: Royal Agricultural Society of England & Agricultural Development and Advisory Service.Google Scholar
Floate, M. J. S. (1981). Effects of grazing by large herbivores on nitrogen cycling in agricultural ecosystems. In Terrestrial Nitrogen Cycles (Eds. Clark, F. E. & Rosswall, T.), Ecological Bulletin (Stockholm) No. 33, 585601.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J. & Ridout, M. S. (1986). The fitting of frequency distributions to height measurements on grazed swards. Grass and Forage Science 41, 247249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, M. J. & Treacher, T. T. (1983). The performance of lactating ewes offered diets containing different proportions of fresh perennial ryegrass and white clover. Animal Production 37, 433440.Google Scholar
Gordon, A. J., MacDuff, J. H., Ryle, G. J. A. & Powell, C. E. (1989). White clover N2 fixation in response to root temperature and nitrate. Journal of Experimental Botany 40, 527534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulding, K. W. T. & Atkins, D. H. F. (in press). Nitrogen deposition to arable-cropped land from the atmosphere. Atmospheric Environment.Google Scholar
Grant, S. A., Barthram, G. T., Torvell, L., King, J. & Smith, K. (1983). Sward management, lamina turnover and tiller population density in continuously stocked Lolium perenne dominated swards. Grass and Forage Science 38, 333344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, S. A. & Marriott, C. A. (1989). Some factors causing temporal and spatial variation in white clover performance in grazed swards. In Proceedings of the 16th International Grassland Congress, Nice (Eds Jarrige, R. et al. ), pp. 10411042. Nice: Association Française pour la Production Fourragère.Google Scholar
Herriott, J. D. B. & Wells, D. A. (1963). The grazing animal and sward productivity. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 61, 8999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoglund, J. H. (1985). Grazing intensity and soil nitrogen accumulation. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 46, 6569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, W. F. (1983). Nitrogen cycling through senescent leaves and litter in swards of Ruani and Nui ryegrass with high and low nitrogen inputs. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 26, 461471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. C. (1981). Copper sorption by soils at low concentrations and relation to uptake by plants. Journal of Soil Science 32, 257269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. C., Hatch, D. J. & Lockyer, D. R. (1989 a). Ammonia fluxes from grazed grassland: annual losses from cattle production systems and their relation to nitrogen inputs. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 113, 99108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. C., Hatch, D. J. & Roberts, D. H. (1989 a). The effects of grassland management on nitrogen losses from grazed swards through ammonia volatilization; the relationship to excretal returns from cattle. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 112, 205216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. C., MacDuff, J. H., Williams, J. R. & Hatch, D. J. (1989 c). Balances of forms of mineral N in grazed grassland soils: impact of N losses. In Proceedings of the 16th International Grassland Congress, Nice (Eds Jarrige, R. et al. ), pp. 151152. Nice: Association Française pour la Production Fourragère.Google Scholar
MacDuff, J. H., Jarvis, S. C. & Orr, R. J. (1989). Nitrate leaching from grazed grassland. In AFRC Meeting on Plant and Soil Nitrogen Metabolism, Lancaster (Ed. Lea, P. J.) Swindon: Agricultural and Food Research Council.Google Scholar
Marriott, C. A., Rangeley, A., Smith, M. A. & Baird, M. A. (1985). The effect of strategic applications of nitrogen fertilizer in different forms on pasture growth. Biennial Report of the Hill Farming Research Organisation 1984–85, 10.Google Scholar
Marriott, C. A., Smith, M. A. & Baird, M. A. (1987). The effect of sheep urine on clover performance in a grazed upland sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 109, 177185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, J. (1984). Improving the efficiency of grassland production. In Grassland Research Today (Ed. Hardcastle, J. E. Y.), pp 45. Swindon: Agricultural and Food Research Council.Google Scholar
Orr, R. J., Parsons, A. J., Penning, P. D. & Treacher, T. T. (1990). Sward composition, animal performance and the potential production of grass/white clover swards continuously stocked with sheep. Grass and Forage Science 45, 325336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, A. J., Leafe, E. L., Collett, B., Penning, P. D. & Lewis, J. (1983). The physiology of grass production under grazing. 2. Photosynthesis, crop growth and animal intake of continuously grazed swards. Journal of Applied Ecology 20, 127139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, A. J. & Penning, P. D. (1988). The effect of the duration of regrowth on photosynthesis, leaf death and the average rate of growth in a rotationally grazed sward. Grass and Forage Science 43, 1527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penning, I. M. (1975). Nutrition of the liquid-fed lamb. PhD thesis, University of Reading.Google Scholar
Penning, P. D., Corcuera, P. & Treacher, T. T. (1980). Effect of dry-matter concentration of milk substitute and method of feeding on intake and performance by lambs. Animal Feed Science and Technology 5, 321336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penning, P. D. & Gibb, M. J. (1979). The effect of milk intake on the intake of cut and grazed herbage by lambs. Animal Production 29, 5367.Google Scholar
Penning, P. D., Parsons, A. J., Orr, R. J. & Treacher, T. T. (in press). Intake and behaviour responses by sheep to changes in sward characteristics under continuous stocking. Grass and Forage Science.Google Scholar
Ryden, J. C. (1982). Effect of acetylene on nitrification and denitrification in two soils during incubation with ammonium nitrate. Journal of Soil Science 33, 263270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryden, J. C. (1984). The flow of nitrogen in grassland. Proceedings of the Fertilizer Society, London, No. 229.Google Scholar
Ryden, J. C. & Garwood, E. (1984). Evaluating the nitrogen balance of grassland. In Grassland Research Today (Ed. Hardcastle, J. E. Y.), pp. 1011. Swindon: Agricultural and Food Research Council.Google Scholar
Ryden, J. C. & McNeill, J. E. (1984). Application of the micrometeorological mass balance method to the determination of ammonia loss from a grazed sward. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 35, 12971310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryden, J. C., Skinner, J. H. & Nixon, D. J. (1987). Soil core incubation system for the field measurement of denitrification using acetylene-inhibition. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 19, 753757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryle, G. J. A., Powell, C. E. & Gordon, A. J. (1986). Defoliation in white clover: nodule metabolism, nodule growth and maintenance, and nitrogenase functioning during growth and regrowth. Annals of Botany, 57, 263271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryle, G. J. A., Powell, C. E., Timbrell, M. K. & Gordon, A. J. (1989 a). Effect of temperature on nitrogenase activity in white clover. Journal of Experimental Botany 40, 733739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryle, G. J. A., Powell, C. E., Timbrell, M. K. & Jackson, J. P. (1989 b). Carbon and nitrogen yield, and N2 fixation in white clover plants receiving simulated continuous defoliation in controlled environments. Annals of Botany 63, 675686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheehy, J. E. (1989). How much dinitrogen fixation is required in grazed grassland? Annals of Botany 64, 159161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherlock, R. R. & Goh, K. M. (1984). Dynamics of ammonia volatilization from simulated urine patches and aqueous urea applied to pasture. 1. Field experiments. Fertilizer Research 5, 181195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprent, J. I. (1987). The Ecology of the Nitrogen Cycle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thornley, J. H. M. & Verberne, E. L. J. (1990). A model of nitrogen flows in grassland. Plant, Cell and Environment 12, 863886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Meer, H. G. (1983). Effective use of nitrogen on grassland farms. In Efficient Grassland Farming (Ed. Corrall, A. J.), pp. 6168. Occasional Symposium, British Grassland Society, No. 14.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. C. (1970). The Role of Nitrogen in Grassland Productivity. Bulletin, Commonwealth Bureau of Pastures and Field Crops. No. 48 202 pp.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. C. (1986). Sources and transformations of organic nitrogen in intensively managed grassland soils. In Nitrogen Fluxes in Intensive Grassland Systems (Eds Meer, H. G. Van der et al. ), pp. 4758. Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, D. C., Lockyer, D. R. & Raistrick, N. (1989). Volatilization of ammonia from urea applied to soil: influence of hippuric acid and other constituents of livestock urine. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 21, 803808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wild, A., Jones, L. H. P. & MacDuff, J. H. (1987). Uptake of mineral nutrients and crop growth: the use of flowing nutrient solutions. Advances in Agronomy 41, 171219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witty, J. F. & Minchin, F. R. (1988). Measurement of nitrogen fixation by acetylene reduction assay: myths and mysteries. In Nitrogen Fixation by Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (Eds Beck, D. P. & Materon, L. A.), pp. 331344. Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar