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Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) has emerged as a forage with the ability to reduce nitrogen (N) losses, in particular N leaching, from grazing dairy systems. For farmers to confidently incorporate plantain into their farms, research needs to demonstrate that these environmental benefi...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8868481/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35203177 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12040469 |
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author | Navarrete, Soledad Rodriguez, María Horne, David Hanly, James Hedley, Mike Kemp, Peter |
author_facet | Navarrete, Soledad Rodriguez, María Horne, David Hanly, James Hedley, Mike Kemp, Peter |
author_sort | Navarrete, Soledad |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) has emerged as a forage with the ability to reduce nitrogen (N) losses, in particular N leaching, from grazing dairy systems. For farmers to confidently incorporate plantain into their farms, research needs to demonstrate that these environmental benefits sustain similar production and farm profit than traditional ryegrass (Lolium perenne)–white clover (Trifolium repens, wc)-based pasture. The effect of changing the cows’ diet to plantain-based pastures was evaluated over two lactation seasons in comparison to ryegrass–wc pastures. Cows grazing plantain-based pastures produced the same milk solids production, but a urine with a lower N concentration when compared to ryegrass–wc pastures. Plantain reduced the urinary N loads from individual urine patches via higher urine volume and reduced the total N loading onto pastures via a lower urinary N excretion to mitigate the N leaching losses from grazed pastures. Plantain pastures could be employed by farmers to reduce the nitrate leaching from dairy farms. ABSTRACT: The use of plantain pasture in dairy systems can potentially reduce nitrogen (N) leaching losses via the lower N concentration in the urine (UNc) of cows. Reducing the urinary N load while cows graze pastures can reduce the risk of N leaching losses from urine patches. Research needs to demonstrate that these environmental benefits are not at the expense of milk production and farm profit. Three groups of 20 cows grazed in the following three pasture treatments: (i) plantain, (ii) plantain–clover mix (plantain, red [Trifolium pratense] and white clover), or (iii) ryegrass-white clover (wc) pastures, from spring to autumn for two years. Each year, pasture intake, diet quality, milk production and animal N (milk and urine) excretion were evaluated in spring, summer, and autumn. The cows grazing the plantain and plantain–clover mix pastures produced similar milk solids as cows grazing ryegrass–wc pasture but reduced their UNc during summer and autumn, when compared to those grazing the plantain–clover mix and ryegrass–wc pastures. Plantain reduced urinary N loads onto pastures by a greater number of urine patches with lower urinary N loading rates. The results demonstrate that plantain pastures do not diminish milk solids production from cows, and the lower UNc from summer to autumn could reduce N being lost to the environment. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8868481 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88684812022-02-25 Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season Navarrete, Soledad Rodriguez, María Horne, David Hanly, James Hedley, Mike Kemp, Peter Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) has emerged as a forage with the ability to reduce nitrogen (N) losses, in particular N leaching, from grazing dairy systems. For farmers to confidently incorporate plantain into their farms, research needs to demonstrate that these environmental benefits sustain similar production and farm profit than traditional ryegrass (Lolium perenne)–white clover (Trifolium repens, wc)-based pasture. The effect of changing the cows’ diet to plantain-based pastures was evaluated over two lactation seasons in comparison to ryegrass–wc pastures. Cows grazing plantain-based pastures produced the same milk solids production, but a urine with a lower N concentration when compared to ryegrass–wc pastures. Plantain reduced the urinary N loads from individual urine patches via higher urine volume and reduced the total N loading onto pastures via a lower urinary N excretion to mitigate the N leaching losses from grazed pastures. Plantain pastures could be employed by farmers to reduce the nitrate leaching from dairy farms. ABSTRACT: The use of plantain pasture in dairy systems can potentially reduce nitrogen (N) leaching losses via the lower N concentration in the urine (UNc) of cows. Reducing the urinary N load while cows graze pastures can reduce the risk of N leaching losses from urine patches. Research needs to demonstrate that these environmental benefits are not at the expense of milk production and farm profit. Three groups of 20 cows grazed in the following three pasture treatments: (i) plantain, (ii) plantain–clover mix (plantain, red [Trifolium pratense] and white clover), or (iii) ryegrass-white clover (wc) pastures, from spring to autumn for two years. Each year, pasture intake, diet quality, milk production and animal N (milk and urine) excretion were evaluated in spring, summer, and autumn. The cows grazing the plantain and plantain–clover mix pastures produced similar milk solids as cows grazing ryegrass–wc pasture but reduced their UNc during summer and autumn, when compared to those grazing the plantain–clover mix and ryegrass–wc pastures. Plantain reduced urinary N loads onto pastures by a greater number of urine patches with lower urinary N loading rates. The results demonstrate that plantain pastures do not diminish milk solids production from cows, and the lower UNc from summer to autumn could reduce N being lost to the environment. MDPI 2022-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8868481/ /pubmed/35203177 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12040469 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Navarrete, Soledad Rodriguez, María Horne, David Hanly, James Hedley, Mike Kemp, Peter Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title | Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title_full | Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title_fullStr | Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title_full_unstemmed | Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title_short | Nitrogen Excretion by Dairy Cows Grazing Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Based Pastures during the Lactating Season |
title_sort | nitrogen excretion by dairy cows grazing plantain (plantago lanceolata) based pastures during the lactating season |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8868481/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35203177 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12040469 |
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