Cattle farmers can reduce the use of nitrogen in fertilisers to 50 kg of N/ha and still achieve 90% of the livestock performance. This was heard at a webinar with AFBI, Agrisearch and CAFRE, that focused on the reduction on nitrogen fertiliser. There’s has since been an interest in discussions regarding fertiliser due to recent price increases in the country. According to research conducted dairy farms can reduce the use of nitrogen in fertiliser by using the following methods:
- Reduce fertiliser N from 250 to 150 kg of N/ha
- Make full use of biologically fixed N
- Produce similar yields of herbage
AFBI researcher Dr David Patterson says that “from an environmental perspective, in a healthy grass/clover-based system, the biologically fixed N is carbon and energy neutral, the nitrous oxide emissions are much lower, and there is a lower overall carbon footprint.”
Added to this research suggests that increasing species diversity with legumes can improve grassland sustainability, reduce fertiliser N inputs, and still achieve comparable levels of sward productivity and animal output.
But Patterson adds that a different grassland management approach is required to achieve these advantages, for establishment, weed control and persistence of clover in the sward over the longer term.
LSL News.