Offered Papers Theme A: Efficient Production from Grassland
Description
The benefits of using white clover (Trifolium repens) in pasture grazed by sheep have been widely recognised. However, clover is considered inadequate and risky as the main source of nitrogen input, since its abundance in the pasture is patchy, low (typically less than 20%) and shows great year-to-year variation. This is thought to be due to the costs of nitrogen fixation, competition with grass, the preference for clover by sheep and patchy dung and urine deposition (Schwinning & Parsons, 1996). One possible solution may be the spatial separation of clover from grass, which would remove inter-specific competition, allowing clover to grow unimpeded in a greater abundance than previously observed. Spatial separation can occur over a range of spatial scales, from narrow strips of alternating clover and grass to complete separation, where half a pasture is clover while the other half is grass. This in turn may have a significant impact on the processes occurring within the pasture, such as plant growth and spread, nitrogen cycling and animal behaviour.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Use of Novel Spatial Presentations of Plant Species to Improve Legume Abundance
The benefits of using white clover (Trifolium repens) in pasture grazed by sheep have been widely recognised. However, clover is considered inadequate and risky as the main source of nitrogen input, since its abundance in the pasture is patchy, low (typically less than 20%) and shows great year-to-year variation. This is thought to be due to the costs of nitrogen fixation, competition with grass, the preference for clover by sheep and patchy dung and urine deposition (Schwinning & Parsons, 1996). One possible solution may be the spatial separation of clover from grass, which would remove inter-specific competition, allowing clover to grow unimpeded in a greater abundance than previously observed. Spatial separation can occur over a range of spatial scales, from narrow strips of alternating clover and grass to complete separation, where half a pasture is clover while the other half is grass. This in turn may have a significant impact on the processes occurring within the pasture, such as plant growth and spread, nitrogen cycling and animal behaviour.
