ALBERT

Notes: A study has been made of the flowering requirements, for temperature and photoperiod, of a range of timothy strains, including American, British and Scandinavian material.All the strains tested are long-day in their photoperiodic responses, and there is no “winter requirement” for low temperature (0–5°C.) or short days before flowering. There is, however, an inhibitory effect of high temperature in the greenhouse on flower formation, lf the temperature is too high, no heads are produced, although photoperiod may be adequate. Instead elongated indeterminate shoots are formed which often become stoloniferous.The effect of high temperature varies with the strain, and appears to be related to the May temperature of the region of origin. Under greenhouse temperatures of 55–65°F. American and Canadian commercial strains show little inhibition of flowering, but many plants of the Scandinavian strains fail to produce heads. The British hay strains show intermediate heading behaviour, but only an occasional plant of the diploid S.50 formed heads under these conditions.

Notes: Heading behaviour of eight strains of timothy was observed in the sowing and first harvest years, after sowing on a series of dates between March and August.All strains produced heads in the sowing year. Only a very few plants failed to head when sown between 18 March and 29 April. With subsequent sowing dates the proportion of heading plants progressively declined, most markedly in S.50 Phleum nodosum, least in the early-heading P. pratense strains. No heading occurred in the sowing year after the mid-August sowing.The environment to which the later sowings are exposed differs from that of the earlier sown lots in that (a) the initial temperatures and daylengths are higher and (b) the decline in daylength occurs earlier in their development. One or both of these factors must be responsible for failure of heading among plants of the later sowings.The sequence of heading dates among the strains in the sowing year differed considerably from that in the same plants after overwintering, suggesting the action of some factor other than photo-period in determining heading date in the sowing year.Variability in heading date within the strains was much greater in the sowing year than after overwintering, and increased with lateness of sowing.

Notes: Experiments are described in which a study was made of the top growth, root weight, nodule number, and type of nodules of white clover growing in a grass sward in the field. Soil cores were taken and the clover root-system examined after removal of soil by washing.The most important factor governing the total number of nodules and the number of large (2 mm. or more in length) nodules under the sward was the amount of clover root-material present.Nitrogenous fertilisers and the return of dung and urine by grazing sheep reduced the amount of clover root-weight and consequently the number of nodules found under the pasture. 36 1b. of nitrogen applied in the early spring of 1956 had a beneficial effect on both clover top-growth and nodulation. 80–100 1b. of nitrogen per acre had no effect on the number of nodules per gram of root. However, the application of 200 1b. of nitrogen per acre caused a significant decrease in the number of large nodules per gram of root.The numbers of large nodules present reached a midsummer peak where nitrogen was not applied.During the autumn many nodules showed part green and part pink colouration or were completely green or brown, an indication of a decline in nitrogen-fixing ability. Decaying nodules increased considerably in number when the legume was being suppressed by nitrogen application and top growth was poor. The practical application of these results is discussed and methods of maximising the benefit from clover and fertiliser nitrogen are suggested.

Notes: A trial is described which was designed to test the hypothesis that measurements taken of the leaf-plus-shoot length of spaced plants may give a good indication of dry-matter yield of strains of Dactylis glomerata, as determined by cutting and weighing the produce of sward plots.Two contrasting strains of Dactylis glomerata were used: the British S.143, and the German von Kamekes. The strains were established during 1955 both as spaced plants (10 plants per plot) and as pure swards, with six replications of each. The two methods of establishment formed the main treatments, occupying whole plots, and each plot was divided into four sub-plots each of which carried one of the combinations of the two strains with the following two management treatments: Treatment 1, cut at monthly intervals from 27 April to 23 August; Treatment 2, cut on 12 April and subsequently at the mean date of emergence of the inflorescence for each strain, followed by cutting at monthly intervals until the end of August.Spaced plants were measured before cutting by thrusting a measuring rod into the crown of the plant and measuring the leaf-plus-shoot length of one of the longer shoots. Produce cut from sward plots was weighed and sampled for dry-matter content.Results from the swards showed that von Kamekes produced more dry matter in early spring, but that subsequently the advantage passed to S.143.Significant positive correlations were obtained in early spring between the sward yields and leaf-plus-shoot measurements from spaced plants. Subsequently there was no agreement between the two methods, and some significant negative correlations were obtained.The data are discussed in relation to the physiological stages of development of the strains, which suggests that:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉(a) In the spring period the main factor contributing to yield was shoot elongation, with the majority of the tillers in the reproductive phase.(b) In summer the main factor was new tiller formation, with the majority of tillers in the vegetative phase.(c) In the early autumn neither factor was dominant and both contributed to yield.Attention is drawn to the danger of comparing yields from spaced plants with yields from swards where the management may influence the results obtained, and to the difficulty of assessing hay yields by means of height measurements of spaced plants.

Notes: An experimental silo unit consisting of four silos, each capable of holding 1000 kg. fresh grass, is described. The silos are suspended from a weighing apparatus enabling weight recordings to be taken at all stages during ensilage. The weighing apparatus is sufficiently sensitive to record a change in weight in the silo and contents of 100 grams.

Notes: Foggage grazing trials with beef-store cattle and in-calf dairy heifers during four successive winters in Aberdeenshire are described. Many of the animals received only very small quantities of supplementary fodders, but their performance was satisfactory in all cases. During the last two winters, silage and oat straw contributed 40–50% of total food dry-matter intake. It is suggested that this level of supplementary feeding would be satisfactory in practice.In a comparison of store-feeding systems, four in-wintered (housed) steers were 110 1b. per head heavier than their out-wintered monozygous twins at the end of the winter-feeding period. Live-weight differences averaged 27 1b. per head one month later and were negligible at the end of summer. From the results of a metabolism trial it was concluded that the spring weight-loss suffered by the housed cattle was due mainly to a reduction in the weight of gut contents.

Notes: Yields were recorded from a potato crop grown in the first year following a grazing trial comparing four strains of white clover, previously described in this journal (2 & 3). The Kent clover strain, which was the most persistent and which had produced the greatest live-weight increase per acre, gave the highest yield of potatoes. The Dutch white clover, which had been the poorest in the grassland trial, gave the lowest yield of potatoes.A 2 × 2 × 2 N, P, K fertilizer design was superimposed in the form of split plots. Nitro-chalk at 5 cwt. per acre and muriate of potash at 2 cwt. per acre both caused significant reductions in yield, and this was thought to be due to the exceptionally high soil fertility status of the field. The fertilizer × clover interactions were non-significant, and contributed little towards an explanation of the fundamental basis of the soil fertility differences caused by these four clover strains.

Notes: The vigour of perennial ryegrass and cocksfoot after spraying with the sodium salt of MCPA during establishment was estimated from their yields in small-plot cutting experiments on weedy land. Where the weed yields of control plots was of the order of a ton of air-dry matter an acre (mostly Spergula arvensis L.), spraying at up to 1·2 1b. acid equivalent an acre caused twofold to threefold increases in grass yields. The optimum time to spray perennial ryegrass was at the three- to four-leaf stage or 26 days after sowing; for cocksfoot, which appeared more susceptible to the herbicide, spraying at the tillering stage, or about 40 days after sowing, was best. Increasing the seed rates of ryegrass produced transitory increases in yields while decreasing weed yields. Increasing phosphate or nitrogen caused decreases in weed yields. Although the former gave a large increase in weed yield in the first cut this was offset by a large decrease in the second cut. There was an indication that the level of nitrogenous manuring affected the toxicity of the herbicide to the grasses.

Notes: Book reviewed in this article:WHEELER, W. A. and HILL, D. D. Grassland seeds.

Notes: An experiment, A, involving dates and methods of application of 2,4-D (amine) as a preliminary treatment in the renovation of a poor downland permanent pasture, followed by surface cultivations and sowing of S.24 perennial ryegrass and S.100 white clover, was carried out at Hurley between 1953 and 1955.In spite of initial differences in the establishment of S.24 and S.100, pre-treatment with herbicide had no effect upon the cover of sown and unsown perennial ryegrass and white clover two years later. At this date, perennial ryegrass contributed one-quarter and one-eighth, and white clover one-third and one-quarter, to the total cover of renovated and unrenovated plots respectively.The increase in dry-matter yield resulting from renovation was approximately 10 per cent. This was considered small in relation to the estimated improvement in yield brought about by grazing management and manuring in the course of the trial.In experiment B, plots receiving herbicide were given differential management and manurial treatments after spraying in an attempt to control the ingress of undesirable creeping grasses. The results indicated that this ingress could be checked by close grazing soon after spraying.

Notes: Plots were sown broadcast with ryegrass, cocksfoot or timothy and were strip-grazed at various times during three successive winters by store cattle maintained almost entirely on foggage. In the first winter the plots were rested from 2 September. Each was sampled when required for grazing and the mean organic-matter yield was 2020 Ib. per acre containing 17.5% crude protein. In the two following years, when rested from 15 July and 10 August, November yields were 4340 Ib. (11.8% crude protein) and 3003 Ib. (16.0% crude protein), respectively. Ryegrass yields were 15–30% higher than timothy and 25–50% higher than cocksfoot. Losses during winter due to rotting were related to botanical characteristics and were 40% for ryegrass, 30% for timothy and 10–20% for cocksfoot. Cocksfoot was the most suitable for winter-grazing since it had the highest stock-carrying capacity at all times. This was due mainly to high consumption of ryegrass and timothy, not affecting live-weights, and increasingly poor utilization of the ryegrass produced. It is emphasized that grazing animals should be used when evaluating pastures. Foggage production is considered as a method of herbage conservation and in relation to whole-year pasture output.

Notes: After uniform defoliation in February, spaced plants of S.48 timothy were cut on one of 12 fortnightly dates, starting at the end of March.Analysis of the herbage removed at each cut showed an increase in plant and unit tiller weight throughout the season, but a decline in the number of tillers, especially before the beginning of shooting.The date of ear emergence was not affected by cutting up to 5 May and only slightly delayed in plants cut on 19 May. Plants treated subsequently flowered much later but after a fairly constant interval following defoliation.Cutting on and after 7 April depressed fertile tiller formation with increasing severity, until only vegetative tillers appeared in the recovery growth following treatment at the beginning of August.Seed yield per plant declined with the decrease in fertile tiller numbers, but after the early cuts some compensation by production of slightly more seed per ear was recorded.The results are discussed in terms of the physiological transition of the plant towards flowering.

Notes: The influence of defoliation on the root, stubble and herbage weights of perennial ryegrass during establishment was studied on spaced plants in the greenhouse and field.In the greenhouse trial the rate of root elongation was reduced by a single defoliation. In both the field and greenhouse, cutting reduced the number of roots and tillers per plant but increased the number of roots per tiller. A few weeks after defoliating plants in the field there was a lower root weight on the cut plants than on the uncut. Eventually the influence of a single cut disappeared, but if the cutting was in the laie summer or autumn the plants commenced the winter with a smaller amount of root and stubble, and this appeared to have a deleterious effect on the earliest spring growth.Herbage growth in March and April was positively correlated with both root and stubble weights in the previous November.As the number of cuts during the establishment period (March-November) was increased from 0–4 the root and stubble weight per plant progressively decreased.The root and stubble weights decreased during the winter.

Notes: Seasonal productivity from plots of 27 strains of the principal grass species has been compared at Auchincruive over two seasons by a cutting technique. The following conclusions are reached:Peak growth is limited to a short period before the first week in June. Extension at peak-growth level into the summer gap is not possible by the use of any of these grass strains grown alone.The provision of grass for one cow per acre is possible for up to 142 days by the combination of strains.Extension into the autumn can be achieved by conserving second-peak growth, which does not mature to the same extent as the first-peak growth.In combining strains with advantageous growth periods due regard must be paid to their growth at other periods, which may be particularly low.Combination of many strains is not likely to achieve as good a result as the use of 2, or at most 3, well chosen strains.

Notes: Leafy strains of five grasses were grown for seed and subjected to various cattle grazing treatments between October and April for three harvest years. The grasses were: S.143 cocksfoot, S.215 meadow fescue, S.170 tall fescue, S.59 red fescue and S.23 perennial ryegrass. All but S.59 red fescue (row crop) were studied as row and broadcast crops. The plots were sown under an arable silage crop and received top dressings of nitrogenous fertiliser every year. Yield of seed, and also quantity of herbage in winter, were measured.October grazing in the seeding year reduced the first crop of seed in all species except ryegrass. Grazing in December improved the yield of meadow fescue throughout the experiment, and of cocksfoot, tall fescue and red fescue after the first year. Several factors might operate to bring about this effect; suggestions are made for further investigation. Repeated grazing from December to March tended to reduce vigour, and so to offset the advantage of removing autumn-grown herbage. Grazing at intervals from December to late April seriously reduced yield in all species. Tall fescue and red fescue, early flowering species, were most seriously affected, meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass least. Cocksfoot and tall fescue yielded more seed when grown in 2-ft. rows than when broadcast. Meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass did not. The yield of meadow fescue was less affected by adverse conditions than cocksfoot.

Notes: A trial designed to examine the significance and extent of losses in live weight of inwintered cattle turned out to grass in spring is described. The results obtained for two pairs of identical twin cattle suggest that most of the loss in live weight after a 14-day grazing period could be related to differences in the contents of the alimentary tract.

Notes: In well drained grassland soils, most of the sulphur occurs in the organic matter and the average C : N : S ratio in the A horizon of normal soils is probably 100 : 8 : 1. In the absence of outside sources of sulphur, grasses in a grass/legume association would be almost completely dominant as they compete intensively with legumes for sulphur and could utilise almost all the mineral nitrogen and sulphur made available by the mineralisation of the organic matter. Legumes are thus dependent on outside sources of sulphur without which they will fix little nitrogen. The amount of sulphur needed will depend on the factors governing the amount of nitrogen fixed—climate, species, soils, management—it will be roughly a tenth to a fifteenth of the nitrogen fixed and will vary between 1–2 lb. per acre where the only addition of nitrogen to the soil is from rain or by non-symbiotic fixation to about 60 lb. per acre under the best New Zealand pastoral conditions. In the absence of fertiliser sulphur, the atmosphere is the most significant, but a highly variable, source. An interesting situation arises in New Zealand where in one rather vigorous climatic zone where nitrogen fixation by legumes is limited to about 100 lb. nitrogen per acre per annum, so little sulphur comes from the atmosphere (probably less than 1 lb. per acre) that sulphur must be applied to enable clovers to make any appreciable growth. Under more favourable conditions where clovers may fix 600 lb. nitrogen per acre it is calculated that some 50 lb. of sulphur is obtained from natural sources and further responses may be obtained from fertiliser sulphur. Less sulphur may be needed when grass/legume associations are grazed than when they are cut for conservation, owing to the retum of sulphur in the urine—but much must depend on which system of utilisation most depresses clover growth and nitrogen fixation. The fate of sulphur when herbage is grazed is closely parallel to that of nitrogen; most of it is excreted in the urine as sulphate. Sulphate (even if applied as gypsum) may be readily lost by leaching from the A horizon and care must be exercised in the choice of forms of sulphur, rates and times of application.

Notes: This paper deals with the second three years (April 1954 to March 1957) of a grazing-management trial in the form of a pilot farm. The whole area of 35.5 acres was run as a self-contained unit with the object of providing grazing for as long a period of the year as possible. A system of rotational grazing was used throughout with strip- and fold-grazing at certain seasons. Excess herbage was conserved as silage and hay and fed back to stock during the winter. Beef-type steers and ewes and lambs grazed the pastures, the saleable products being fat cattle, lambs and wool. Results are presented and discussed in relation to stock numbers, animal health, herbage production and botanical composition, fertilizer application and the levels of production achieved. Over-all average fertilizer dressings per acre for the three years were equivalent to 5 cwt. per acre nitro-chalk, 2 cwt. per acre superphosphate and 1 cwt. per acre muriate of potash. The outputs of utilised starch equivalent in 1954–5, 1955–6 and 1956–7 were 2970, 2850 and 2280 1b. per acre, respectively. On the basis of the six years' results it is concluded that high production can be achieved from a system where the object is an extended grazing season; that broadcast leys can be used for winter grazing and the botanical composition of the sward maintained; that self-fed silage can be a satisfactory feed for fattening cattle; that a grazing plan is a valuable guide to management; and that the pilot-farm method is of value for certain agronomic experiments.

Notes: Utilised grass production on ten small farms in North County Dublin has been estimated using (A) the method adopted by the British Grassland Society Sub-Committee on the assessment and recording of the utilised output of grassland, and (B) a live-weight increase method using Woodman's figures.At the beginning of the grazing season all the grazing animals on each farm were weighed. At the same time the records for method A were begun. Altogether 169 animals and 12 sheep were weighed during March-April. Animals sold during the period of investigation were weighed, where possible.The results obtained using the two methods have been compared. Average percentage difference on ten observations was 11.3%, with a variation of ± 3.7%. On farms 1–5, where only mature stock were kept, the percentage difference was 9.9%± 2.2%. On farms 6–10, where animals of all categories were grazed, the percentage difference averaged 12.8%± 2.2%. In all cases the live-weight-increase method gave the higher estimated yield.The techniques used in the estimation of utilised grassland production are discussed. Total output varied between 26.5 cwt. and 9.0 cwt. of utilised S.E. per acre. The significance of the findings is discussed and the value of the methods used is considered.

Notes: A leafy strain of timothy and of perennial ryegrass showed no significant reductions in seed yields following grazing at different dates from October to January, when extra nitrogen was applied.Spring and winter + spring grazing, together with extra nitrogen, significantly reduced the seed yield of S50 timothy for three successive harvest years.Perennial ryegrass S101 showed no reduction after spring or winter + spring grazing when defoliation was made not later than mid-April, but when grazing was delayed until May and drought occurred there was a significant reduction in seed yield.

Notes: Messrs. A. W. Montgomerie and Sons of Lessnessock, Ayrshire, manage their grassland so as to encourage full development of white clover. The method is an adaptation of the system followed in New Zealand. The results are that production in terms of stock output is high, reaching a utilised starch equivalent of 23 cwt. per acre.

Notes: The differences in soil fertility in a ley as a result of treatments applied for four years in a sheep-grazing trial were measured by growing crops of wheat and kale. The pasture treatments had been: control, dung, urine and dung plus urine, each combined with four levels of fertilizer nitrogen.Yields of winter wheat harvested in 1956 ranged from 27.1 to 38.6 cwt. per acre. Plots to which faeces had been allowed to return during the pasture phase outyielded (p 〈0.001) those from which it was withheld. Urine was relatively ineffective except in combination with nitrogen. In the absence of animal returns, nitrogenous fertilizer depressed grain and straw yields. A top-dressing of K applied to the wheat in spring as a sub-treatment had no significant effect. The percentages of N and K in the grain were unaffected by the former pasture treatments, or by the K top-dressing.A subsidiary small-plot experiment in which the above pasture treatments had been combined with P and K, each at two levels, was cropped with marrow-stem kale. In general, N applied to the pasture increased kale yields except where dung and urine had been withheld. Neither P nor K had a significant effect, except when combined. The leaf/stem ratio of the kale was reduced by applied N and by P (both p 〈0.05).The pasture/arable-crop relationship is considered.

Notes: A series of six trials with eight strains of perennial ryegrass at two levels of manuring has now been completed. Results indicate that a moderate application of artificial manures gives a high degree of control over Gloeotinia temulenta infection. The degree of infection may be influenced by climatic conditions. Each strain has a definite inherent susceptibility or resistance to the disease. The most resistant strains are the commercial strains Irish Commercial and Devon Eaver; S24 is the most susceptible, followed by New Zealand Certified Mother Seed.

Notes: Four strains of Phleum pratense L., and one strain of Lolium perenne L., all of foreign origin, are classified by comparison with established strains on the basis of their performance in a spaced-plant trial in Scotland in 1955.

Notes: The definition of pasture height is discussed and it is suggested that a meaningful and objective measurement of height must be related to the distribution of density. A point-quadrat method for determining such a “height index” is described and the uses and limitations of the method are discussed.

Notes: A preliminary experiment was carried out to investigate methods of maintaining short and long swards, and to measure the effect of height of sward on the growth of lambs. Differences in sward height did not occur until mid-June: no marked differences in lamb growth, due to sward height, were observed. The effects of stocking rate and worm infection are discussed and conclusions are drawn concerning the design of experiments of this nature.

Notes: In spring 1952, a trial was laid down at Hurley to compare the botanical effects of five grazing treatments upon a low-fertility downland permanent pasture. The treatments were: dose and lenient rotational cattle grazing, close rotational sheep grazing and continuous grazing by cattle and by sheep. The trial was concluded in autumn 1955.Continuous cattle grazing and close rotational cattle grazing resulted in a sward with a high proportion of forbs. With sheep under the same grazing systems, grasses predominated. An intermediate grass/forb balance was attained under lenient rotational cattle grazing. Legumes contributed more under rotational grazing than under continuous grazing.The grazing treatments most favourable to the major species were: For creeping bent—both sheep grazing treatments; for ribwort plantain—all cattle grazing treatments; for white clover—all rotational grazing treatments; for cocksfoot—lenient rotational cattle grazing; for ox-eye daisy—close rotational cattle grazing; for red fescue—lenient rotational cattle grazing and continuous sheep grazing. Bulbous buttercup and rough-stalked meadow grass showed no significant response to differential grazing treatments.The relative degree of consumption by stock of individual species was estimated by comparing the yields from matched pairs of groups of shoots harvested before and after each grazing spell (rotational treatments) or of areas protected from and exposed to grazing (continuous treatments). A close relationship was established between the intensity of grazing experienced by species and their final status in the swards. Accessibility appeared to be as important as palatability in determining the degree to which individual species were grazed.The resulting swards differed only slightly in agronomic quality. The lack of any clear advantage from rotational grazing was attributed to low levels of plant nutrients, since these probably limited the development of the more valuable grasses and of white clover.

Notes: The results of nineteen digestibility trials with sheep on different silages have been reported. From these data and from the results of forty trials with sheep carried out by Watson (15) it has been shown that Lancaster's method of calculating feed intake (9) can be applied to silages when the crude protein content is within the range studied (9–24% of the dry matter). For silages in this category, no advantage has been found in taking the nitrogen content of the silage dry matter into account in calculating feed intake.The digestibility of crude protein and Lancaster's‘constant’have both been correlated with the crude protein content of the silage dry matter for the fifty-nine trials considered (r = 0.767 and r = 0.452 respectively). Although it has been found unnecessary to take the protein content of silage into account in calculating dry matter intake when feeds containing 9.24% crude protein in the dry matter are used, evidence is presented which indicates that this factor is of considerable importance when herbage of low protein content is fed. The equation, 〈displayedItem type="mathematics" xml:id="mu1" numbered="no"〉〈mediaResource alt="image" href="urn:x-wiley:01425242:GFS22:GFS_22_mu1"/〉 which has been derived from the silage data considered, has been found to be valid when compared with the results of trials with fresh herbage and well preserved hays of low protein content.The results of this work indicate that Lancaster's method is a suitable one for estimating the feed intake of animals engaged in self feeding of silage, provided the silage has been well preserved.

Notes: Records were made on a standard point-quadrat frame at intervals of 20 feet along fifteen transects down the chalk escarpment on the north side of Pewsey Vale in Wiltshire. These records demonstrate how great is the variability in chalk grassland, both in different parts of each transect and in corresponding parts of adjacent transects. Chalk-down vegetation must be regarded as unstable and greatly altered by past and present use of the land for cultivation and grazing.

Notes: Review in this article:GRASSLAND RESEARCH INSTITUTE. Experiments in Progress, No. 10. Annual report for 1956–7. Hurley, Berks.

Notes: It seems to me that during the next 20 years:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉(a)grass as a feed will increasingly over-shadow grass as a break in tillage cropping or as a fertility builder(b)the current rapid progress in biochemistry, plant physiology, radiation biology and the physical sciences may revolutionise our knowledge of applied ecology and genetics(c)as a result of such research, scientific principles will replace much of the present patchwork of empirical husbandry knowledge(d)these developments, plus forthcoming changes in labour costs and in grazing, harvesting and conservation techniques will call for a drastic re-appraisal of much of our current thinking and practice in sward establishment and management; this will involve more applied ecological research(e)the scientist's laboratory and the engineer's workshop will become more important in grassland research whilst husbandry experiments will increasingly depend on scientific instrumentation.

Notes: The Aberystwyth district experienced exceptionally cold winter weather in 1954, 1955 and 1956, especially during the period from the end of January to early March. Its effect on the grasses, both in the single-plant nurseries and in the agronomic experimental areas, is briefly described.It was observed that plants which entered the winter carrying a bulk of herbage in a winter-proud condition were at a disadvantage compared with those which had been reasonably grazed or cut back during the autumn. The younger plants were found to be better able than the older ones to withstand extreme conditions.Suggestions are made as to how some simple-mixture swards can be managed so as to be reasonably likely to provide keep in situ during the difficult months December to April. The species under consideration are cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), timothy (Phleum pratense and P. nodosum), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perernne) and Italian ryegrass (L. italicum).

Notes: A small-plot trial comparing perennial ryegrass, cocksfoot, timothy and meadow fescue sown broadcast and also in 21 inch rows was conducted at Auchincruive from 1954 to 1957. The cutting treatments were arranged so that measurement could be made of both summer and winter production.Of the four species, cocksfoot was the most suitable for foggage production. Perennial ryegrass suffered severely from winter killing. Timothy and meadow fescue, although persistent, did not yield as much as cocksfoot.Total dry-matter production over three years was higher from the cocksfoot rows than from the broadcast stand. For ryegrass and meadow fescue, broadcasting gave higher yields than row sowing while timothy showed no significant difference between sowing methods.During the winter, all species showed a loss of dry matter. Losses for ryegrass, cocksfoot, timothy and meadow fescue were respectively 34%, 17%, 18% and 24%. Broadcast stands averaged 11% greater loss than the rows.

Notes: In the results from a previously reported uniformity trial on pasture evaluation, there appeared to be systematic areal changes in the crude fibre and crude protein percentages of the herbage. These trends have been illustrated by the calculation of quadratic contours and the possible relationships of the changes to local soil differences, moisture percentages and copse shelter effects have been investigated.

Notes: Results are presented for the final two years of a previously described experiment.The return of dung and urine by sheep to a ryegrass/white-clover ley was controlled by suitable harnesses to give four treatments (no dung or urine, dung, urine, dung and urine) which were combined in a replicated factorial design with four levels of nitrogenous fertilizer application (0, 52, 182, 312 1b. N per acre).Applied nitrogen and urine were the dominant factors affecting botanical composition. The percentage of ryegrass increased and that of clover decreased with the progressive increases in nitrogen application. Volunteer species (mainly Poa spp.) contributed up to 20 per cent by the final year, the maximum occurring under the medium-high nitrogen treatment.Urine restricted the incursion of weed grasses.Combined with urine or the full return of excreta, high levels of applied nitrogen increased herbage production by up to 120 per cent. There was little response to dung except at the highest nitrogen level.The yield response to applied nitrogen was almost linear. In the absence of animal returns response was poor, partly due to shortage of potash. When both excreta were withheld the light nitrogen dressing depressed the annual production compared with the control; where both excreta were returned together with this dressing no reduction occurred in annual yield and the spring yield was improved (p 〈0.05).

Notes: When livestock are used to measure the output of pasture, the potential output of the animal is on occasions lower than that of the grassland so that this may determine the yields of animal products which are obtained, regardless of pasture type and treatment. The implications of this are discussed in relation to the interpretation of data of grassland evaluation, and also in relation to maximum utilisation of grass.

Notes: Eight strains of white clover were compared under a cutting treatment over a three-year period. The medium-leaved, persistent strains S.100, S.100 Nomark, Kersey, New Zealand CM. and P.P. generally gave the highest yield of clover, but this was counterbalanced by an increased yield of unsown species in the plots of wild white clovers S.184 and Kent.The unsuitability of Ladino clover for British conditions was shown by its lack of persistency and poor yield. The new strain S.100 Nomark gave a similar total yield to S.100.

Notes: S.48 timothy plants were induced to form proliferating inflorescences by exposure to 2–4 weeks of long days followed by a return to short days. Serial micro-dissections showed that the lemma enlarges to resemble a leaf but that glumes, palea and all reproductive organs are also present and perfectly farmed. At a later stage a vegetative shoot bearing several foliage leaves, axillary buds and root initials is formed, presumably as a continuation of the rachilla.The production of proliferations by insufficient exposure to photoperiods favourable for flowering is discussed. Proliferations may occur spontaneously in many normally seed-setting grasses, but in a number of species this form of growth is genetically fixed.

Notes: A study was made of the local effects on yield and botanical composition of the herbage of cattle dung and urine applied to permanent pasture as simulated defaecations and urinations.A single application of urine had a negligible effect upon botanical composition. In the 2-ft.-diameter circle around dung patches there was an increase in cocksfoot, creeping bent, red fescue and white clover, and a decrease in herbs.Urine patches were neglected by grazing stock for short periods only. Herbage around dung patches was neglected for a period varying from 13–18 months. The effect of this neglect was to restrict the spread of white clover around dung patches in comparison with similar plots kept short by cutting.Yield response to urine in the area of deposition lasted for two cuts following application, response to dung for four cuts. An increase in crude-protein content of the herbage was recorded only in samples taken one month after application of dung or urine, and not later.Increases in crude-protein yield following spring applications of dung or urine were greater than those following autumn applications. The inferiority of autumn applications may be attributed to winter leaching of nitrogen.

Notes: Three trials in which metabisulphite was used as a silage additive are described and the results discussed.The data from two small-scale trials suggests that metabisulphite and molasses each have a similar effect on the quality of the silage produced, and that wilting appeared to be more effective than either of these two additives.A comparison of silages in two large-scale trials indicates the necessity for uniform distribution of the metabisulphite.

Notes: The effects are reported of varying the growing technique, and the conditions of management, on green and air-dry yields of herbage from five strains of ryegrass during 1952 and 1953. All strains were grown in three ways: as spaced plants, in drill-rows and in stands broadcast with white clover. There were two experiments, one managed for hay and aftermath, the other cut more frequently.In both experiments the broadcast plots reached their peak of herbage production first; the spaced plants took longest. There were considerable differences in the seasonal distribution of yields from the different growing techniques during the first harvest year. In 1953, the differences were smaller but the secondary annual peak of herbage production observed in the broadcast plots was not detected in the spaced plants.The total annual production per unit area was greatest from the broadcast, and least from spaced-plant plots. Yields on certain occasions, however, were greatest from spaced plants and least from broadcast areas.The effects of varying the conditions of management were greatest on population samples sown broadcast and least on those growing as spaced plants, their reaction when grown in drills being intermediate.Differences in plant population in the various growing techniques are discussed in relation to the above results.

Notes: Four foreign strains of Lolium perenne L. are classified by comparing them with established strains on the basis of their performance in spaced-plant trials in Scotland in the years 1953–5.

Notes: The importance of the grass/clover balance of a pasture in determining the effects of manurial returns and fertiliser applications on the chemical composition of the sward is shown.The response to applied nitrogen was very dependent on the presence or absence of the animal excrements. For example, the N recovery from an application of 18 cwt. per acre of nitro-chalk was only 2% in the absence but 68% in the presence of the grazing animal.Urine caused a marked increase in the N and K content and the yield of pasture, particularly when returned in quantity to a high-producing grass-dominant sward, and at the same time tended to depress the Ca, P and Mg content. Urine K was superior to fertiliser K, per pound of K returned or applied, in raising the K content of the pasture.By comparison, dung had little direct effect on chemical content; even when returned in large amounts it affected the Ca and K content of the pasture to a relatively small extent. The P returned in the dung had little effect on the P content of the pasture and was inferior to superphosphate in this respect.Together, as in normal grazing, dung and urine tended to counter or enhance their individual effects.There was a positive correlation between the Mg and P content of the pasture and a negative correlation between Mg and K. Brief mention is made of the possible importance of the nutrient balance in pasture as a factor in animal health.

Notes: Dorothy Brown (from Herbage Abstracts).

Notes: Perennial ryegrass seed was dried at temperatures from 50°C to 120°C, the increases of 10°C being made regularly at intervals of 3 hours. The figures for germination capacity obtained immediately after treatment indicated that a lethal zone had been reached with final temperatures above 100°C and moisture contents reduced to 0.09 and 0.00 per cent.It was shown that heat drying to as low as 0.66 per cent moisture at a final temperature of 100°C for 3 hours does not injure the germination capacity over a period of seven years, but after 15 years a greater loss in viability appears than in seed treated less severely. Germination energy figures (6-days’ test) rather than germination capacity are a more reliable guide to optimum temperatures, duration of heating, and moisture content in the drying of seed for long-period storage.The most favourable treatment in this series was found to be heating the seed gradually to a maximum temperature of 90°C for 3 hours with a reduction of moisture content to 1.62 per cent. Seed thus treated showed 81 per cent germination after 15 years; for the last eight years the bottles were stored in a cold room, after replacing the air in them with nitrogen.

Notes: Comparison of results obtained on herbage samples freeze-dried and hot-air-dried during tests of commercial green-crop driers indicated apparent losses of crude protein and β-carotene in freeze-drying.Experiments on laboratory technique in drying, milling and analysing herbage samples showed a differential loss in conventional laboratory hammer mills biassed towards loss of high-protein particles.The differential loss was particularly marked for freeze-dried material, but was also shown to be significant for oven-dried material.There is a need for development of a laboratory mill to disintegrate samples without loss of milled material and without undue temperature rise when used for milling samples at the same rate as existing laboratory hammer mills.

Notes: The moisture content of red clover seed proved to be the most important single factor governing its longevity. Life was conserved considerably better in a heated room, on account of its lower relative humidity, than in an unheated granary.Low temperature (32°–41°F.) was shown to be very beneficial for maintaining viability when the moisture content was excessive (10.32 per cent). By replacing the air in the containers with dry CO2 longevity was increased.A combination of low moisture content, cold storage and replacement of air by dry CO2 enabled red clover seed to germinate 71 per cent after 23 years’ storage and produce vigorous seedlings.Purple and yellow colours may be retained in a considerable proportion of a red clover seed stock long after all the seeds are dead.

Notes: The production of a fibrous material as a residue from the process of extracting a protein concentrate from fresh crops is described and the value of this material as a coarse feed for ruminants has been studied in five digestibility experiments with sheep. In these the digestibilities of the residues have been compared with the digestibilities of the corresponding fresh crops. The fibre residues, both fresh and artificially dried, were readily consumed by sheep.The average digestibilities of the dry matter and organic matter in the fibre residues were respectively 6.4 units and 5.6 units lower than in the corresponding fresh crops. The organic matter content of the fibre residues was higher than that of the fresh crops. Because of this the residues contained 94% as much digestible organic matter per lb. of feed dry matter as did the unprocessed crops. The dry matter of the fibre residues contained from 52%–60% of digestible organic matter and from 1.32% to 2.2% of digestible nitrogen. In respect to the former they are equivalent to medium grade hay, but are superior to this in digestible nitrogen content.The fibre residues can be readily dried but artificial drying would be unlikely to be economic in commercial practice. Residues have been successfully ensiled, using either molasses or mineral acids as additives but the silage has been found to be quite unpalatable to all classes of ruminants. It is suggested that the fibre residues would best be utilized by feeding directly to stock in yards adjacent to the protein extraction machinery.

Notes: In a small plot trial good yields of foggage of satisfactory botanical composition with cocksfoot dominant were produced from a mixed-species pasture after it had been cut for silage in spring and again in summer. Production in the following year was satisfactory. The advantages of using ordinary pastures for winter grazing, especially if this occurs only during their last winter before ploughing, are discussed. From a study of various autumn treatments it is concluded that the optimum management for foggage production in the north-east of Scotland is to close fields on or near 10 August when 3 cwt. nitro-chalk per ac. should be applied; a higher rate (6 cwt. per ac), though it increased yields and percentage crude protein immediately, and also during the subsequent summer, conferred no benefits of practical importance. Effects of K fertilizer applications were negligible. Closing as late as the beginning of September gave smaller but useful yields of a higher protein foggage and the sward was less cocksfoot-dominant. Autumn closing and fertilizer treatments did not affect foggage wastage during winter, which averaged 14 per cent of the initial organic-matter yield; the percentage of crude protein in standing foggage rose.

Notes: Two feeding trials are described in which indoor and outdoor methods of rearing calves are compared.In a small experiment in 1953 Ayrshire calves reared on pasture from birth made similar weight gains (approximately 1 lb. per day) to control animals reared conventionally indoors.In an experiment in 1954 the outside-reared members of ten pairs of calves gained at a significantly slower rate (P〈0.01) than their pair mates reared inside. The dry-matter digestibility of the herbage on offer to the calves outside was high (〈70%) throughout the experiment but, during August, in a period of particularly wet and cold weather, the amounts of T.D.N. consumed by the calves were less than their theoretical requirements. Concomitantly the worm burden of the calves increased to a critical level of 2,000 eggs per gram of faeces with associated symptoms of parasitic gastritis and loss of weight.The relation of environmental factors, particularly the interacting factors of climate, nutrition and worm parasites, to the growth of outside reared calves is discussed.

Notes: In spaced-plant trials in Scotland, nineteen strains of Dactylis glomerata were assessed for the following characters: habit of growth in early spring, at ear emergence and at flowering; date of ear emergence; length of stem and weight of plant at anthesis; amount of aftermath shooting.The following characters in a strain were found to be related to its date of ear emergence: habit of growth at ear emergence and at flowering; stem length. No relation was found between date of ear emergence and plant weight, aftermath shooting or spring growth habit. The strains are allotted to grades on the basis of each character and, in an overall classification, all except one fall into two main groups on the basis of relative earliness and lateness.

Notes: The effects of cutting on the root, stubble and herbage growth of perennial ryegrass during establishment was studied under sward conditions.Although a few weeks after a cutting treatment there was a smaller root weight on the cut than on the uncut swards, this difference eventually disappeared.By the autumn the frequently cut swards had considerably more plants and tillers per unit area than the uncut plots. As a result of these changes in plant density the root weight per unit area of the sward was not decreased by increasing the cutting frequency during establishment. However, the root weight per plant (and per tiller) was decreased by increases in the cutting frequency.The root and stubble weights increased during the spring, summer and early autumn of the first year and decreased during the winter. In the second season the root weight increased to a maximum in December whilst the stubble weight rose during the spring and summer and decreased after September.Although the percentage of total soluble carbohydrate was consistently higher in the stubble than the roots or herbage the quantity was similar in both roots and stubble, and in these organs the major soluble carbohydrate was fructosan.During the winter both the percentage and the total quantify of soluble carbohydrate in the stubble and roots decreased considerably.Herbage growth in February and March was not correlated with the root weight per unit area in the previous autumn but was positively correlated with the root weight per plant. The highest herbage yield in the early spring came from plots which were leniently treated in the previous autumn: these plots had a low plant and tiller density but the root weight per plant or per tiller was relatively high.In April the rate of herbage growth tended to be positively correlated with the sward density. In May and June the highest herbage yields came from the open swards. It was suggested that during this latter period moisture, and/or nitrogen, may have been the limiting factor, so that the open sward benefited from less interplant competition.

Notes: Book reviewed in this article:Brown, Dorothy. Methods of surveying and measuring vegetation