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The effect of cutting systems on the yield of herbage from a small‐plot experiment
Author(s) -
BINNIE R. C.,
CHESTNUTT D. M. B.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1990.tb02190.x
Subject(s) - yield (engineering) , sampling (signal processing) , perennial plant , mathematics , productivity , horticulture , agronomy , zoology , biology , materials science , composite material , optics , physics , macroeconomics , detector , economics
Plots of an established perennial ryegrass sward (cv. Talbot) fertilized with 100 or 300 kg N ha −1 were harvested with one of three plot mowers; an Agria with 38‐mm finger spacing and an Allen Mayfield with 38‐mm finger spacing or 78‐mm finger spacing. The choice of mower was arranged factorially with four post‐harvest treatments: no post treatment; a second (cleaning) cut using the same mower and cutting in the same direction as the first (sampling) cut; a cleaning cut using the same mower, but in the opposite direction to the sampling cut; and a cleaning cut using a rotary mower. Sward productivity as organic matter (OM) was measured over four harvests at 6‐ to 7‐week intervals. The Agria mower resulted in 12·3 and 15‐9% more OM yield than the Allen Mayfield fitted either with knife‐bars at a similar spacing, or with wider‐spaced fingers, respectively. Yield of OM in the subsequent cut was reduced when a cleaning cut was taken; particularly when it was taken in the opposite direction to the sampling cut or when using a rotary mower.