Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
Legume-rich mixed swards allow the production of a high quantity protein-rich forage with low nitrogen input. Nevertheless, during hay or silage making, dry matter losses as high as, 40 and 25 % have been recorded (Ciotti & Cavallero, 1979; Stilmant et al., 2004). These losses have mainly been linked to the high sensitivity to physical loss of legume leaves during drying. The development of a tool to characterise leaf losses or leaf/stem ratio during drying will help us to define the technical approach to reach the best compromise between quality loss reduction and good pre-wilting of legum-rich mixed swards. The aim of the present work was to test the potentialities of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to quantify legume leaf/stem ratio in mixed grass-legume swards. The mixtures tested were perennial ryegrass-white clover (PR-WC), perennial ryegrass-red clover (PR-RC), timothy-red clover (T-RC) and cocksfoot-lucerne (C-L) swards. This technique has been successfully used to quantify leaf/stem ratio in pure perennial ryegrass swards (Leconte et al. 1999).
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
The Use of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) to Follow the Leaf/Stem Ratio of Legumes During Drying
Legume-rich mixed swards allow the production of a high quantity protein-rich forage with low nitrogen input. Nevertheless, during hay or silage making, dry matter losses as high as, 40 and 25 % have been recorded (Ciotti & Cavallero, 1979; Stilmant et al., 2004). These losses have mainly been linked to the high sensitivity to physical loss of legume leaves during drying. The development of a tool to characterise leaf losses or leaf/stem ratio during drying will help us to define the technical approach to reach the best compromise between quality loss reduction and good pre-wilting of legum-rich mixed swards. The aim of the present work was to test the potentialities of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to quantify legume leaf/stem ratio in mixed grass-legume swards. The mixtures tested were perennial ryegrass-white clover (PR-WC), perennial ryegrass-red clover (PR-RC), timothy-red clover (T-RC) and cocksfoot-lucerne (C-L) swards. This technique has been successfully used to quantify leaf/stem ratio in pure perennial ryegrass swards (Leconte et al. 1999).
