Widening the harvest window with contrasting grass-clover mixtures

Abstract

Widening the harvest window for the first silage cut is crucial in adapting to unstable weather conditions without degrading the silage nutrient content. This study investigated whether a grass-clover mixture containing late species and varieties harvested late could provide the same yield and nutritional quality as a mixture with early species and varieties harvested early. Trials based on a split-plot design (four replicates), with harvest time on main plots and seed mixture on sub-plots, were conducted at three sites in Sweden in 2007-2009. The results showed that on average for all three sites and ley years, there were no significant differences in silage yield, energy content or fibre content between the early mixture harvested early and the late mixture harvested late. Thus in practice the harvest window can be widened by 9 days for the first cut by using an early cut mixture containing early varieties of timothy, meadow fescue, perennial ryegrass and clover, or a late cut mixture containing late varieties of timothy, perennial ryegrass and clover, but without meadow fescue.

Keywords

seed mixture, harvest time, forage, yield, energy, NDF

Published in

Grassland Science in Europe
2016, volume: 21, pages: 191-193
Title: Proceedings of the 26th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation
Publisher: Organising Committee of the 26th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, NIBIO

Conference

The multiple roles of grassland in the European bioeconomy

SLU Authors

• Nilsdotter-Linde, Nilla

  • Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Halling, Magnus

  • Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

• ISBN: 978-82-17-01677-9

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/80607