The establishment of legumes crops with phenotypic traits that favour their persistence and competitiveness in mixed swards is a pressing task in sustainable agriculture. However, to fully exploit the potential benefits of introducing pasture-based grass-legume systems, an increased scientific knowledge of legume agronomy for screening of favourable traits is needed. We exploited a short-cut ph...

Pasture quality is an important component in grazing and livestock management and a key driver of animal performance. Accurate, real-time information on pasture quality can help farm managers in decision making. This study investigated the potential applicability of optical sensors to estimate pasture quality parameters in the field, these have been trialled as part of the P21 Feed Programme, c...

Senna reticulata (Willd.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby (Fabaceae) is a pioneer tree which colonizes open areas in Amazonian floodplains. It is very abundant throughout Amazonia along the nutrientrich whitewater rivers, and can be considered to be one of the most efficient colonizers of open areas. It possesses a very high tolerance towards flooding of the roots and stem, and performs extremely high ph...

The Amazon Rainforest is a global diversity hotspot that has experienced significant level of deforestation over the past half century, primarily for establishment cattle pasture. Characterizing impact this large-scale ecosystem conversion on composition and activity soil microbial community crucial understanding potentially consequential shifts in nutrient greenhouse gas cycling, as well addin...

The sugar, starch, and fructan content (collectively referred to as nonstructural carbohydrates [NSC]) of pasture plants is dependent on the environmental conditions under which they have grown. Pasture that is stressed by cold, drought, or lack of nutrients can be 2 to 3 times higher in NSC than pasture that grows quickly in warm weather and is adequately watered and fertilized. Horses at risk...

Many dairy cows in the developed world are now housed exclusively indoors with fewer than 5% of the 10 million lactating cows in the United States having access to pasture during the grazing season. Indoor housing systems are designed to meet biological needs for food, water, hygiene, and shelter, but surveys of public and farmer opinion suggest that people think that pasture access is also imp...

Logging, cattle raising, and agricultural activities have caused the destruction of most forested areas in Costa Rica. In some middle and highlands the abrupt topography delayed the complete destruction of montane forest. Consequently, some fragments of almost pristine forest remain along streams that run in deep canyons. Frequently, these remnants serve as corridors between larger forested are...

Environment and seedling community under isolated trees in pastures are different from those in the open pasture. The effect of the pasture trees on the soil nutrients and on the seedling growth were investigated. Seven isolated trees and eight plots were selected in two pastures of 12-yr and 32-yr old derived from a lowland rain forest with nutrient-rich soil at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. The soil c...

Our ability to estimate the changes in carbon (C) pools and fluxes due to forest conversion is hampered by a lack of comparative studies. We measured aboveand belowground C pools and soil respiration flux at four forested and four pasture sites in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Aboveand belowground C pools were significantly larger (P < 0.01, t-test) at forested sites relative to pasture s...