Studies on the cutting management of grass-clover swards VI. The effects of different closeness and frequency of cutting treatments on the yield and quality of herbage from a cocksfoot/white clover sward

Abstract

SUMMARYYields and quality of herbage from a cocksfoot/white clover sward were compared over a 3-year period when cut repeatedly with a reeiprocating-blade mower to either 1 in or 2½ in from ground level or with a cylinder lawnmower to 1 in from ground level. The comparisons were made under two frequencies of cutting, namely five times per season at the ‘grazing’ stage, or three times at the ‘silage’ stage.Cutting to 1 in from ground level with the reciprocating-blade mower gave a greater total yield of dry matter and crude protein than did cutting to 2½ in with the same mower in the first year, when the average dry-matter yield difference was 10·7 %, but no significant differences were recorded in subsequent years. It is suggested that the difference noted in the first year was due mainly to the harvesting at the first cut in the season of the layer of herbage between 1 and 2½ in from ground level, and not to any differential effects of the treatments on stem and leaf development of the cocksfoot.Cutting to 1 in from ground level with the lawnmower gave smaller dry-matter yields than did cutting to 1 in with the reciprocating-blade mower at both stages of growth in the first year, but a slightly greater yield at the ‘grazing’ stage in the third year. The type of mower used affected the botanical composition of the sward.