A - Papers appearing in refereed journals
Carswell, A. M., Gongadze, K., Misselbrook, T. H. and Wu, L. 2019. Impact of transition from permanent pasture to new swards on the nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen and carbon budgets of beef and sheep production. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 283 (1 November), p. 106572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106572
Authors | Carswell, A. M., Gongadze, K., Misselbrook, T. H. and Wu, L. |
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Abstract | There is currently much debate around the environmental implications of ruminant farming and a need for robust data on nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) fluxes from beef and sheep grazing systems. Here we use data collected from the North Wyke Farm Platform along with the SPACSYS model to examine the N and C budgets and the N use efficiency (NUE) of grassland swards at different stages of establishment. We assessed the transition from permanent pasture (PP) to a high-sugar grass (HSG), and a mixed sward of HSG with white clover (HSGC), identifying data specifically for the reseed (RS) years and the first year following RS (HSG-T and HSGC-T). Dominant fluxes for the N budget were N offtake as cut herbage and via livestock grazing, chemical-N fertiliser and N leaching at 88-280, 15–177, and 36–92 kg N ha−1 a−1, respectively. Net primary productivity, soil respiration and C offtake as cut herbage and via livestock grazing at 1.9 –15.9, 1.74–12.5, and 0.34–11.7 t C ha−1 a−1, respectively, were the major C fluxes. No significant differences were found between the productivity of any of the swards apart from in the RS year of establishment. However, NUE of the livestock production system was significantly greater for the HSGC and HSGC-T swards at 32 and 42% compared to all other swards, associated with the low chemical-N fertiliser inputs to these clover-containing swards. Our findings demonstrate opportunities for improving NUE in grazing systems, but also the importance of setting realistic NUE targets for these systems to provide achievable goals for land-managers. |
Keywords | Balance; Carbon; Grazing; Livestock; Nitrogen use efficiency; Nutrient budgets; Reseed |
Year of Publication | 2019 |
Journal | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment |
Journal citation | 283 (1 November), p. 106572 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106572 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Funder | BBSRC Newton funding |
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council | |
Natural Environment Research Council | |
Funder project or code | UK - China Virtual Joint Centre for Improved Nitrogen Agronomy (CINAG) |
The North Wyke Farm Platform- National Capability [2017-22] | |
S2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 2 (WP2) - Adaptive management systems for improved efficiency and nutritional quality | |
Modelling and managing critical zone relationships between soil, water and ecosystem processes across the Loess Plateau | |
Publisher's version | Copyright license CC BY |
Supplemental file | Copyright license Publisher copyright |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 15 Jun 2019 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 10 Jun 2019 |
Publisher | Elsevier Science Bv |
ISSN | 0167-8809 |
Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8ww2x/impact-of-transition-from-permanent-pasture-to-new-swards-on-the-nitrogen-use-efficiency-nitrogen-and-carbon-budgets-of-beef-and-sheep-production