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Nutritive value of pasture: I. Seasonal variations in the productivity, botanical and chemical composition, and nutritive value of medium pasturage on a light sandy soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

Herbert Ernest Woodman ,
Denzil Layton Blunt  and
James Stewart
Herbert Ernest Woodman
Affiliation:
(The Institute for the Study of Animal Nutrition, School of Agriculture, Cambridge University.)
Denzil Layton Blunt
Affiliation:
(The Institute for the Study of Animal Nutrition, School of Agriculture, Cambridge University.)
James Stewart
Affiliation:
(The Institute for the Study of Animal Nutrition, School of Agriculture, Cambridge University.)
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Extract

An account has been given of an investigation into the seasonal changes in the productivity, botanical and chemical composition, and nutritive value of pasture grass, the work constituting the initial stage of a comprehensive study of the nutritive properties of different types of pasture. The pasture on which the work was carried out was situated on a light sandy soil of low water-retaining capacity; the pasturage was of medium quality.

Grazing was imitated by the daily use of a motor-mowing machine, the system of cutting being such as to ensure the whole plot being cut over once per week. The season was divided into ten periods, each period corresponding with the duration of a digestion trial carried out on two wether sheep. The main feature of the weather conditions during the season was the extremely low rainfall during the period from early June to mid-July.

The pasture plot results were compared with corresponding results obtained from contiguous plots which were allowed to grow for hay, and from which, after removal of hay, several successive aftermath cuts were taken. The main findings of the investigation are summarised below:

Seasonal changes in the botanical composition of the herbage. Although precise and systematic botanical analyses of the herbage of the pasture were not carried out, yet careful surveys made at an early and a late date in the season, together with general observations made during the whole course of the experiment, enabled interesting conclusions to be drawn in respect of the seasonal activity and persistency of the different species of grasses in the sward. During the spring season, Bromus mollis, Lolium perenne, Poa annua and Poa trivialis accounted for almost 80 per cent, of the herbage.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 1926 , pp. 205 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1926

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