In livestock nutrition, summative models (SM) are displacing empirical models as a preferred method to predict energy content of forages. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to determine nutrient subcomponents required of SM on overall ability to predict energy content of corn and legume-grass silages. Corn (n = 90) and ...

Defined mixtures of two grass (orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass) and two legume (alfalfa, red clover) hays, harvested in two cuttings in 2 yr, were fed in digestibility, intake and mineral balance trials to wether lambs. Each mixture was fed in ad libitum amounts to six crossbred wether lambs weighing 35 to 45 kg. The effect of increasing proportion of legume in mixtures on dry matter digestibi...

Plant species richness and productivity often show a positive relationship, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, especially at the plant species level. We examined how growing plants in species mixture influences intraspecific rates of short-term carbon (C-) translocation, and determined whether such short-term responses are reflected in biomass yields. We grew monocultures a...

This study was conducted to determine the fatty acid (FA) content in pasture grasses, legumes, and non-leguminous forbs northeast West Virginia. Grass, legume, forb plant material were collected from rotationally stocked pastures analyzed for crude protein (CP), linoleic (C18:2), α-linolenic (C18:3), total FA content. Species within botanical classes varied Forbs had highest (C18:2) followed by...

For nitrogen to be transferred from a legume to grass through hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), as reported for a number of grass/legume combinations, the two species should be linked by a common hyphal network, which gives rise to the question of host–fungus preference. To examine the relative preference of perennial ryegrass and white clover for co-existing AMF, two experiments, a...

Following the flurry of plant exploration in the 1950's, most activity with the plants collected apparently centred on expanding the area of adaptation of perennial grass and annual legume. Many of the subsequently released grass cultivars have been agronomically successful but have not been adopted. Haifa white clover, released by the New South Wales Department of Agriculture 25 years after co...

An integrated forage-legume cropping system has immense potential to address the issue of land degradability. It provides a critical understanding capacity diversified species mixes vs. monocultures boost forage production and dynamics soil organic carbon (SOC) phosphorus (P). In this study, we assessed performance Napier Bajra Hybrid (NBH) (Pennisetum glaucum × P. purpureum) + cowpea (Vigna un...

Pasture renovation entails introduction of desirable forage species, usually legumes such as red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.) or birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), into a grass dominated pasture. A commonly used method of pasture renovation consists in drilling seeds into the grass sod (sod-seeding). Introduced legumes benefit the pasture in three w...

The paper provides data on the fl oristic composition of vegetation in anthropogenic habitats suitable for Erigeron × huelsenii, a spontaneous hybrid between the alien E. canadensis and native E. acris s. str. The study is based on 21 phytosociological relevés (vegetation plots) of 5×5 m size made in 2013–2014 in the Polish part of the Lithuanian Lakeland (north-eastern Poland) using the Braun-...

Winter oilseed rape (OSR) can be grown intercropped with frost-sensitive service plant mixtures. This practice may reduce weed pressure and contribute to providing N for OSR after freezing. However, there is little knowledge of how plants interact together the soil in diverse annual crop To assess these interactions, two contrasting legume were selected: faba bean grass pea, as well a non-legum...