Under Mediterranean climates, the best strategy to produce rain-fed fodder crops is to develop perennial drought resistant varieties. Summer dormancy present in native germplasm has been shown to confer a high level of survival under severe drought. Nevertheless it has also been shown to be negatively correlated with annual biomass productivity. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlat...

1. The relations between food intake, reticulo-ruminal motility and abomasal digesta outflow were investigated in ewes receiving lucerne (Medicago sativa) v. orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) hay. Abomasal digesta outflow was recorded continuously by means of an electromagnetic flowmeter probe inserted into a duodenal T-shape cannula and the motility using strain-gauge force transducers. Volum...

Changes in vegetation from 1990 to 2000 were examined at 10 high country localities, representing four grassland types: fescue tussock (Festuca novae-zelandiae), snow tussock (Chionochloa rigida), red tussock (C. rubra), and silver tussock (Poa cita). At each locality, three treatments were established: ambient sheep+rabbit grazing, rabbit grazing only, and no grazing. The mutivariate methods o...

The synergistic and inhibitory interactions observed between Fibrobacter succinogenes A3c, Prevotella ruminicola H2b, and Ruminococcus flavefaciens B34b in the digestion of forage cellulose were studied in detail. Orchardgrass and alfalfa hays, both at two maturity stages, were used as substrates. Sequential inoculation procedures were developed whereby a second inoculation was made after the i...

There is an increase in awareness of the benefits of grass hay from an agronomic and nutritional perspective. The main cool season forage grass species adaptable to California are annual ryegrass, Italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, orchard grass and tall fescue. The main characteristics of these species along with attributes of different varieties are highlighted in this paper. The agronomic...

Four orchardgrass diets ranging in cell wall content from 60 to 78% were fed to sheep, and relationships among intake, digestion, passage and ruminal measurements were determined. As cell wall concentration increased, dry matter intake, digestible energy intake, dry matter digestibility and excretion rate decreased, while cell wall intake rumen volume, rumen cell wall and retention time increas...

Switchgrass, Indiangrass, and big bluestem are warmseason grasses that are a suitable alternative for summer pasture in Iowa. Their advantage over cool-season grasses such as bluegrass, bromegrass, and orchardgrass is their ability to produce during midsummer. These warm-season perennial grasses start growing in late spring as air and soil temperatures increase. Leaf growth often occurs in earl...

Insect herbivores can shift the composition of a plant community, but the mechanism underlying such shifts remains largely unexplored. A possibility is that insects alter the competitive symmetry between plant species. The effect of herbivory on competition likely depends on whether the plants are subjected to aboveground or belowground herbivory or both, and also depends on soil nitrogen level...