Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-12T03:26:34.654Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of cutting height on the growth of leaves and stolons in perennial ryegrass–white clover swards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. Wilman  and
G. H. p. Acuña
D. Wilman
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD, UK
G. H. p. Acuña
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

All combinations of five cutting heights (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 cm) were compared, for 3 years (1986–88), on field plots sown with a mixture of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) in Wales. The plots were cut at 4-week intervals from April to October each year.

A reduction in cutting height reduced the length, width and weight of clover leaflets, petiole length, stolon diameter, the length of stolon internodes and the height of stolons above ground level, but increased the length of clover stolon/m2, the number of stolon nodes/m2 and the proportion of stolon nodes which produced branches. The latter factors out-weighed the former, leading to the inverse relationship between cutting height and the proportion of clover in the sward previously reported (Acuñia & Wilman 1993).

A reduction in cutting height reduced the following attributes of ryegrass: the height of the shoot apex, the length and width of leaf blades, sheath length, leaf extension rate, the death rate of leaves and the net gain in blade length.

Cutting height had little effect on either the thickness of clover leaflets or the rates of leaf emergence in clover and ryegrass.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 121 , Issue 1 , August 1993 , pp. 39 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acuña, P., , G. H. (1988). Effects of cutting height, phosphorus and irrigation on white clover and perennial ryegrass in a mixed sward. PhD thesis, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.Google Scholar
Acuña, P., H., G. & Wilman, D. (1993). Effects of cutting height on the productivity and composition of perennial ryegrass–white clover swards. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 121, 29–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boatman, N. D. & Haggar, R. J. (1984). Effects of defoliation intensity on white clover seedling growth. Grass and Forage Science 39, 395–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briseño De La Hoz, V. M. & Wilman, D. (1981). Effects of cattle grazing, sheep grazing, cutting and sward height on a grass–white clover sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 97, 699–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, G. E. (1966). Growth of clover leaves – developmental morphology and parameters at ten stages. Crop Science 6, 293–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, A. (1989). The structure of the grass/clover sward and its implications in sward management. In Proceedings of the XVI International Grassland Congress, Nice, France, Volume II, pp. 1065–1066.Google Scholar
Frame, J. & Boyd, A. G. (1987). The effect of fertilizer nitrogen rate, white clover variety and closeness of cutting on herbage productivity from perennial ryegrass/white clover swards. Grass and Forage Science 42, 85–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, S. A., Barthram, G. T., Torvell, L., King, J. & Smith, H. K. (1983). Sward management, lamina turnover and tiller population density in continuously stocked Lolium perawe-dominated swards. Grass and Forage Science 38, 333–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollington, P. A. & Wilman, D. (1985). Effects of white clover and fertilizer nitrogen on clover and grass leaf dimensions. percentage cover and numbers of leaves and tillers. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 104, 595–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, W. (Ed.) (1989). Grass: its Production and Utilization, 2nd edn.Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications (for the British Grassland Society).Google Scholar
Huxley, P. A. (1971). Leaf volume: a simple method for measurement and some notes on its use in studies of leaf growth. Journal of Applied Ecology 8, 147–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, D. K. (1974). Some aspects of production and persistency in relation to height of defoliation of Lolium perenne (var. S.23). In Proceedings of the XIIth International Grassland Congress, Moscow, vol. 3, pp. 202–214.Google Scholar
Robson, M. J. & Polniaszek, T. (1984). Effect of contrasting light regimes on the growth and morphology of individual plants of white clover, and of different stolons on the same plant. In Forage Legumes (Ed. Thomson, D. J.), pp. 189–190. Occasional Symposium No. 16, British Grassland Society. Hurley: British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Wilman, D. & Asiegbu, J. E. (1982). The effects of variety, cutting interval and nitrogen application on the morphology and development of stolons and leaves of white clover. Grass and Forage Science 37, 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilman, D. & Mohamed, A. A. (1981). Response to nitrogen application and interval between harvests in five grasses. 2. Leaf development. Fertilizer Research 2, 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilman, D. & Shrestha, S. K. (1985). Some effects of canopy height on perennial ryegrass and white clover in a field sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 105, 79–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilman, D. & Simpson, D. (1988). The growth of white clover (Trifolium repens) in five sown hill swards grazed by sheep. Journal of Applied Ecology 25, 631–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woledge, J. & Dennis, W. D. (1982). Factors affecting the photosynthesis of white clover leaves in swards. In Efficient Grassland Farming (Ed. Corrall, A. J.), pp. 311–312. Proceedings of the 9th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Occasional Symposium No. 14, British Grassland Society. Hurley: British Grassland Society.Google Scholar