DIVERSEFORAGES FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION BY CHRIS REYNOLDS,
PROFESSOR OF ANIMAL & DAIRY SCIENCE (UNIVERSITY OF READING) DIRECTOR OF CEDAR (THE CENTRE FOR DAIRY RESEARCH) The DiverseForages Project is a five-year project funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC), led by the University of Reading in collaboration with Duchy College, Rothamsted North Wyke, and Cotswold Seeds. The overall aim of the project is: "To achieve acceptable yields of good quality forage for livestock production whilst having a positive and long term impact on the environment."
PROJECT OVERVIEW Three forage mixtures comprising six, twelve, or seventeen species were established in Autumn of 2016 and compared to N fertilised PRG at multiple research sites and farms over three growing seasons (2017-2019). All three multi-species treatments included PRG, timothy, red and white clover, and plantain and chicory. Treatment mixtures received no N fertilizer for the duration of the study. Measurements included: • Biomass yield, sward botanical and nutrient composition, and soil properties in a longterm replicated agronomy study at four sites in the South of England. • A comparison of agronomic performance of mixtures sown at dry and wet sites. • An assessment of the performance of the two most complex mixtures on ten participatory farms. • A two-year evaluation of forage nutritional value, including measurements of digestibility, nitrogen use efficiency, methane emission, and growth rate of grazing cattle in 2018 and
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2019.
