Responses to the renovation of an irrigated perennial pasture in northern Victoria. 1. Pasture consumption and nutritive characteristics

A field experiment was established in northern Victoria in the autumn of 1999 to quantify the effects of renovating a 15-year-old irrigated perennial pasture which had a high paspalum content [>40% dry matter (DM)] in summer. The treatments were: (i) control, the existing pasture; (ii) oversown, in which the existing pasture was grazed, topped and direct drilled; and (iii) resown, in which the existing pasture was sprayed, cultivated and sown with a new pasture. The grass species used in both renovation treatments were perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass and tall fescue. The treatments were grazed by dairy cows when the perennial ryegrass had reached the 2.5–3 leaf stage. Grazing of the resown tall fescue coincided with the resown ryegrass in years 1 and 2, but in subsequent years, resown tall fescue was grazed at a rising plate meter height of 80 mm. All treatments were grazed to a residual pasture height of 40–45 mm, as measured with a rising plate meter. Pasture consumption (measured as DM removed by dairy cows), in vitro DM digestibility (in vitro DMD) and crude protein (CP) contents were measured. Oversowing increased pasture consumption over the 4-year period, compared with the control, by an average of 1.1 t DM/ha.year when oversown once with perennial ryegrass and by 1.6 t DM/ha.year when oversown annually with Italian ryegrass. This increase occurred principally during the winter–spring period for pastures oversown with both perennial (0.7 t DM/ha) and Italian (1.6 t DM/ha) ryegrass. Oversowing with perennial or Italian ryegrass did not affect the in vitro DMD or CP content of the pasture on offer. These results show that oversowing with either perennial or Italian ryegrass is a viable means of increasing pasture availability over winter and spring from perennial pastures consisting of a mixture of perennial ryegrass, white clover and paspalum. Pasture consumption in the first 12 months after resowing was 3.5–4.1 t DM/ha lower from the resown than from the control pasture. This was because of two fewer grazings in autumn–winter and to reductions in pasture consumption of 20% in spring and of 40% in summer. These reductions would add considerably to the cost of resowing through increasing the need for supplementary feeding. Pasture consumption from the resown perennial ryegrass pasture in years 2–4 was, on average, the same as the control, although it was higher during winter and spring and lower during summer. Pasture consumption from the resown tall fescue pasture in years 2–4 was, on average, 2.5 t DM/ha.year higher than that of the resown perennial ryegrass pasture, with most of this increase occurring in summer and autumn. The resown pastures had higher in vitro DMD and CP contents than the control with little difference between the resown perennial ryegrass and tall fescue pastures. These findings show that tall fescue is a viable alternative to perennial ryegrass when resowing pastures. The use of nitrogen fertiliser did not affect the in vitro DMD or CP contents of the pasture on offer but allowed an increase in DM consumption, with this increase being greater for the control and oversown pastures than for the resown pasture.