Adoption of Plantain within New Zealand Farming Systems

In New Zealand, plantain has been incorporated into the pasture forage base in three ways: as a short-term pure crop; as a major component in “herb mixes” that include clovers and chicory; and as a minor component in perennial grass-based swards. All types are typically grazed in-situ. Given the incentive to optimise the plantain proportion in livestock diet to mitigate nitrogen losses and the observed lack of persistence in grass-dominant pasture over time, there is a need to use various pasture types strategically across a farm system to ensure a long-term sustainable contribution of plantain to feed intake. The inclusion of plantain in the forage base should be relatively straightforward since farmers are already familiar with establishing and managing forage crops and mixed-species pastures. However, there are still technical questions to answer and incentives to implement before we can achieve the region-wide adoption necessary to result in a measurable impact on water quality. The Tararua District, on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, represents a useful case study of adoption in a strong dairy farming region. Some underpinning elements for successful adoption were in place: 1) national agronomic experience in using a plantain cultivar released in 1996; and 2) regulatory push in terms of reducing N leaching losses on farms. However, other initiatives were required to see meaningful progress: provision of data from local dairy farm systems, focused on the impact on forage supply/quality; a targeted extension program by a trusted sector leader agency (DairyNZ); individual farmer risk-taking and leadership in establishing and managing new crops and pastures. After three years, awareness is well embedded in the rural community and approximately 30% of dairy farms within the district have started to use plantain

Regenerative agriculture in Aotearoa New Zealand - research pathways to build science-based evidence and national narratives.

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Effectiveness of strategies used to establish plantain in existing pastures

In recent years plantain (Plantago lanceolata) has emerged as a potential forage for reducing nitrogen losses from dairy farm systems. However, achieving sufficient proportions of plantain in pastures to help meet target reductions in nitrate leaching presents on-farm challenges. To investigate sowing methods for establishing plantain into existing pasture to achieve high plantain populations, direct drilling was compared with broadcasting before and after grazing. Additionally, pre-graze mowing versus grazing only, and early versus late first defoliation after sowing were investigated to assess their effect on reducing competition from existing pasture. Botanical composition was determined in a small-plot study at Lincoln following summer sowing under irrigation, and from commercial dairy farms in Canterbury (irrigated) and Waikato (not irrigated). Generally, direct drilling was more effective than broadcast sowing for establishing plantain. The method of defoliation after sowing (pre-graze mowing or grazing) was not as important as timing of early defoliation in the resulting plantain populations. Early grazing, while seedlings were small enough to avoid defoliation, improved plantain establishment likely by reducing competition from the pre-existing pasture

Stakeholders’ requirements and expectations with respect to multi-functionality of grasslands in Europe

The European project Multisward aims to increase reliance on grasslands and on multi-species swards for competitive and sustainable ruminant production systems. This contributes to food security and enhanced environmental goods. As part of Multisward, an inventory was made of requirements and expectations of stakeholders with respect to the multi-functionality of grasslands in EU countries. The traditional foursome of primary producer, policy maker, research and advice were identified as the most important stakeholders, followed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (nature, environment), education and industry. A first international stakeholder consultation revealed the appreciation of current and future functions of grasslands in Europe. In general the economic functions of grasslands, mainly feed for herbivores, were considered the most important. Stakeholders expected this to remain unchanged in future. Environmental functions of grasslands were placed second : water quality and quantity, adaptation to climate change, mitigation and biodiversity. Finally, social services were mentioned

Dry matter intake and body condition score change of dairy cows grazing fodder beet, kale and kale-oat forage systems in winter

Crop dry matter (DM) yield, DM utilisation and body condition score (BCS) of dairy cows were measured over two winters on an irrigated stony, free-draining Balmoral soil for three crop grazing systems: fodder beet (FB); early-sown kale (EK); and late-sown kale with oats grown in sequence (LK). There were two replicates of each treatment, with 35–58 cows per treatment group. Allocations of crop and supplements (kg DM/cow/day) were: FB, 8 kg fodder beet + 6 kg grass baleage; EK, 14 kg kale + 3 kg barley straw; LK, 11 kg kale + 5 kg green chop oat baleage. Pre-grazing crop DM yield (t DM/ha) was higher in FB (20.1) than EK (14.6) and LK (12.9). DM utilisation was high in all treatments averaging 99.6%, 90.5% and 87.1% for FB, EK and LK, respectively. Body condition score change over the 8-week winter-feeding period was similar for cows offered FB (+0.76), EK (+0.66) and LK (+0.76). Allocation of feed quantity is more important in determining BCS gain than the type of crop and supplement fed

Proof of concept for continuous enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction in capillary microreactors using 1-octanol as a sustainable solvent

The use of capillary microreactors for enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction (ELLE) was successfully demonstrated using a model system consisting of a buffered aqueous amino acid derivative (3,5-dinitrobenzoyl-(R,S)-leucine) solution (phosphate buffer, pH 6.58) and a chiral cinchona alkaloid (CA) host in an organic solvent. It was shown that 1-octanol is a suitable replacement for the commonly used chlorinated solvents like 1,2-dichloroethane. Experiments were conducted in a capillary microreactor set-up (0.8 mm internal diameter) operated in the slug flow regime at 294 K (residence times between 12 and 900 s, 1 : 1 flow ratio of the aqueous to organic phases, 1 mM of host and 1 mM of amino acid derivative). The enantiomeric excess (ee) was shown to be a function of the solvent and residence time and varied between 37% and 49% in 1,2-DCE and 28 and 46% in 1-octanol in the organic phase. The ee values in the organic phase at shorter residence times were higher than the independently determined equilibrium ee values (41% in 1,2-DCE and 31% in 1-octanol at a host concentration of 1 mM). This is an unprecedented observation with large implications for ELLE, as it implies that operation in the kinetic regime may lead to improved enantioseparation performance