A method has been developed to prepare fresh forages for in sacco and in vitro incubation by freezing and mincing to achieve a particle size distribution of dry matter (DM) similar to in vivo conditions. The method is described and data presented to indicate losses of nitrogen (N) during in sacco digestion and net yield of ammonia from proteolysis in vitro for 22 fresh and conserved forages. Gr...

A mixture of common Southern Piedmont (USA) grassland species (Lolium arundinacea, Paspalum dilatatum, Cynodon dactylon and Trifolium repens) was exposed to O(3) [ambient (non-filtered; NF) and twice-ambient (2X) concentrations] and fed to individually caged New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in a digestibility experiment. Forages and feed refusals were analyzed for concentration...

Prolonged elevated atmospheric CO2 might alter decomposition. In a 90-day incubation study, we determined the long-term (9 years) impact of elevated CO2 on N mineralization of Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens plant material grown at ambient and elevated CO2 and lowand high-N fertilizer additions. No significant differences were observed in N–NO3 recovery rates between any of the treatments, ...

As a preliminary experiment to measuring milksolids (fat plus protein) production of dairy cattle grazing swards containing different levels of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) nine Jersey and nine Friesian cattle housed indoors during late lactation and fed diets containing either 20, 50 or 80% white clover with the balance perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). During the first 10 day meas...

Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of a progesterone-estradiol implant (PEI) with no implant (NI) and 20 g of copper oxide needles (CuON) with no CuON on grazing, subsequent feedlot performance, and selected serum constituents of steers. In Exp. 1, 114 Limousin crossbred yearling steers (317 kg average initial BW) were stocked continuously on Acremonium coenophialum-infected ...

Pinus radiata D. Don is an important tree in New Zealand where it is widely grown for timber and, to a lesser extent, in association with pasture species. In pure stands of P. radiata in Canterbury, poor development of undergrowth may in part be caused by volatile inhibitory substances released from the decomposing litter. In previous work it was shown that vapour from incubated P. radiata litt...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Increasing soil salinity poses a major plant stress in agro-ecosystems worldwide. Surprisingly little is known about the quantitative effect of elevated salinity on secondary metabolism in many agricultural crops. Such salt-mediated changes in defence-associated compounds may significantly alter the quality of food and forage plants as well as their resistance against pests....

White clover (Trifolium repens) is the key legume component of New Zealand pastoral agriculture due to the high quality feed and nitrogen inputs it provides. Invertebrate pests constrain white clover growth and this study investigated rhizosphere-associated fungal controls for two of these pests and attempts to disentangle the underpinning mechanisms. The degree of suppressiveness of 10 soils, ...

A microcosm-based approach was used to study impacts of plant and chemical factors on the bacterial community structure of an upland acidic grassland soil. Seven perennial plant species typical of both natural, unimproved (Nardus stricta, Agrostis capillaris, Festuca ovina and F. rubra) and fertilized, improved (Holcus lanatus, Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens) grasslands were either left un...

The effect of n-alkane faecal recovery on the accuracy of diet composition estimates, when increasing the number of diet components, was studied. Seven dietary treatments, composed of different proportions of herbaceous (Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens) and woody species (Erica umbellata, Erica cinerea, Calluna vulgaris, Erica arborea and Ulex gallii) were offered to 28 goats housed in meta...