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LONG-TERM LIMING REGIME INCREASES PRIME LAMB PRODUCTION ON ACID SOILS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

G. CHEN ,
G. D. LI ,
M. K. CONYERS  and
B. R. CULLIS
G. CHEN
Affiliation:
College of Animal Science, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China
G. D. LI*
Affiliation:
E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (Alliance between NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University), Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, PMB, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
M. K. CONYERS
Affiliation:
E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (Alliance between NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University), Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, PMB, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
B. R. CULLIS
Affiliation:
E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (Alliance between NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University), Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, PMB, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
*
‡Corresponding author: guangdi.li@dpi.nsw.gov.au
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Summary

Prime lamb live weight response to lime application on pasture was measured in a grazing experiment in the high rainfall zone of the southwestern slopes of New South Wales, Australia. The pastures were limed every 6 years over 15 years. First cross South African Meat Merino lambs were used as test animals. Pre- and post-grazing pasture dry matter (DM) yield, botanical composition, feed quality and lamb live weight were monitored over 12 weeks in 2007. Results showed that liming significantly increased pasture DM yield of high quality species and improved overall pasture quality due to increased digestibility and metabolic energy content. As a result, the limed perennial and annual pastures carried 24.0% (3.6 lambs ha−1) and 29.0% (4.4 lambs ha−1) more stock than the unlimed perennial and annual pastures, respectively. Averaged across pasture types, the limed pastures produced 30.6% (131 kg ha−1) more lamb live weight gain than the unlimed pastures over 12 weeks. The live weight gain varied between grazing cycles depending on the availability of feed-on-offer and feed quality, which were closely related to the rainfall pattern. The perennial pastures did not show any advantage in animal production over annual pastures during the experimental period due to lack of moisture in the deep soil profile because of severe drought in the previous year. More seasons with normal or above average rainfall are needed to compare animal production on perennial pastures and annual pastures to investigate the advantage of perennial pastures in animal production.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 221 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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