A Retrospective Analysis of White Clover ( Trifolium repens L.) Content Fluctuation in Perennial Ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) Swards under 4 Years of Intensive Rotational Dairy Grazing

Áine Murray, Luc Delaby, Trevor J. Gilliland, Bríd McClearn, Michael Dineen, Clare Guy and Brian McCarthy
Additional contact information
Áine Murray: Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, P61 C996 Fermoy, Ireland
Luc Delaby: INRAE, Institut Agro, Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique Pour l’Animal et les Systèmes d’Elevage, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France
Trevor J. Gilliland: The Institute of Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN Belfast, Ireland
Bríd McClearn: Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, P61 C996 Fermoy, Ireland
Michael Dineen: Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, P61 C996 Fermoy, Ireland
Clare Guy: Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, P61 C996 Fermoy, Ireland
Brian McCarthy: Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, P61 C996 Fermoy, Ireland

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine fluctuations in white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) content in perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) swards within a high nitrogen (250 kg N/ha) input grazing dairy system. The data came from a larger, overall system experiment within which all management and growing condition variables were categorised each year for the 40 paddocks that contained perennial ryegrass-white clover swards, over four growing years. Within that study, eight perennial ryegrass cultivars were examined, each sown individually with two white clover cultivars in a 50:50 mix of ‘Chieftain’ and ‘Crusader’. To determine management associations and meteorological patterns with white clover content and rate/direction of change, separate generalised linear models were used to analyse each individual management or meteorological variable. Paddocks with high white clover contents were associated with lower pre- and post-grazing sward heights, lower pasture cover over the winter period and shorter over-winter period. Perennial ryegrass cultivars with lower pre- and post-grazing height, lower pre-grazing pasture mass and pasture yield removed, all retained more white clover in their swards. Soil fertility remained a key factor that affected white clover persistence influencing the degree of responses in all treatments, particularly soil phosphorus ( P ) levels. Beyond this, higher white clover contents and lower rates of white clover decline were associated with paddocks that received lower rainfall, had higher soil moisture deficits and received more radiation into the base of the sward, particularly around the time of grazing.

Keywords: white clover; perennial ryegrass; persistency; cultivar; cattle grazing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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