Productivity and pre- and post-grazing quality of pasture cultivars in a grazing trial

Selecting appropriate pasture species for Tasmania’s environmental conditions is fundamental in establishing quality, productive and sustainable pastures. To develop a greater understanding of the productivity and suitability of individual grass cultivars within the Tasmania environment, studies on growth and quality parameters of a range of cultivars grown in monocultures are required. Results obtained from a single sampling program as part of a larger grazing experiment indicated the benefit of more intensive measurements to compliment animal performance data and total herbage yield estimates pre-grazing. The tall fescue cultivar, FlechaMaxP, produced the greatest herbage mass compared to all other cultivars over an autumn and early winter sampling period. However, it also contained the greatest proportion of fibrous and dead material within the total herbage mass sample. The ryegrass cultivars, Banquett II and Victoca, Exceltas and three cocksfoot cultivars were overall similar in yield and quality both pre- and post-grazing. A grazing effect was also evident throughout the trial, where pre grazing samples had significantly higher proportions of green herbage mass, higher nitrogen content and lower fibre, compared to post grazing samples.