Recovery dynamics of rainfed winter wheat after livestock grazing 1. Growth rates, grain yields, soil water use and water-use efficiency

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doi:10.1071/CP11234

Plant Sciences, Sustainable Farming Systems & Food Quality

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Protocols in ecological and environmental plant physiology

Recovery dynamics of rainfed winter wheat after livestock grazing 1. Growth rates, grain yields, soil water use and water-use efficiency

Matthew T. Harrison ^A ^B ^C ^D , John R. Evans ^B , Hugh Dove ^A and Andrew D. Moore ^A

^A CSIRO, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
^B The Australian National University, Research School of Biology, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
^C Present address: INRA, UMR 0759, Laboratoire d’Ecophysiologie des Plantes sous Stress Environnementaux, IBIP – Bât. 7, 2 Place Viala, F-34060 Montpellier, France.
^D Corresponding author. Email: matthew.harrison@supagro.inra.fr

Crop and Pasture Science 62(11) 947-959 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/CP11234
Submitted: 25 August 2011 Accepted: 14 November 2011 Published: 21 December 2011





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Abstract

Detailed information on the growth dynamics, yield responses and soil water use of dual-purpose cereal crops after grazing is often required to devise guidelines for profitable grazing management. To increase the availability of such data, grazing experiments with winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) were conducted near Canberra, Australia. In 2007, cultivar Mackellar was grazed at low-short (LS, 33 sheep/ha for 31 days), heavy-short (HS, 67 sheep/ha for 31 days) or low-long (LL, 33 sheep/ha for 62 days) intensity-durations. In 2008, cultivars Mackellar and Naparoo were grazed at the HS intensity-duration. Aboveground net primary production (ANPP) of ungrazed Mackellar crops averaged 1181 g/m². LS and HS grazing did not affect ANPP in 2007, but LL grazing in 2007 and HS grazing in 2008 treatments reduced ANPP by 20% (which included biomass removed by livestock). Average grain yield (381 g/m²) was not significantly affected by grazing. Grazing increased the proportion of water lost through soil evaporation but decreased transpiration, reducing shoot dry matter production per unit evapotranspiration by up to 22%. However, grazing did not affect grain yield per unit evapotranspiration. For rainfed wheat crops grown in temperate environments, greater biomass production occurred with shorter rather than longer grazing durations, irrespective of grazing intensities.

Additional keywords: defoliation, evaporation, growth rate, herbivory, kernels, soil water, transpiration efficiency, Triticum aestivum.

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