101,937 research outputs found
Effect of slope and altitude on the costs of forage production in mountain areas
No full textMountain grassland, if site-specific managed, is an important source of ecosystem services. However, by
increasing altitude and slope, climatic constraints and limitation to the use of machinery are expected to
increase the costs of forage production, increasing in turn the risk of abandonment. In order to assess the
effect of altitude and slope on the production costs for the mountain meadows in South Tyrol, a threeyear
study was locally conducted on about 100 fields with an altitude ranging between 1,300 and 2,100
m a.s.l. and a slope of between 3 and 86%. Costs of machinery and personnel, as well as an estimate of
the forage yield, were assessed. The costs per hectare were found to depend on the slope only, while both
the altitude and the slope affected the costs per unit of weigh
BIENNIAL STUDY OF SEED PRODUCTION IN A HILLY ARRHENATHERION MEADOW
No full textThis paper analyzes the seeds production of the second cut of a hilly arrhenatherion in Pianari place in the town of Marostica (Vi). The year under review is 2010. The datas obtained are compared with datas from other studies carried out on three cuts of the same field, the first cut of the same year and the first and second cut of the previous year, 2009. The comparisons have focused primarily on the study of phenology and identified of regressions used to the seeds production estimate. With regard to the regressions that
estimating the production of seed, for each species was calculated a mean regression computed with the data of the 4 cuts, so you can find as much as possible a general formula
and released by annual climate trends. The results of the estimate seeds production obtained on the basis of the mean regression, were compared with those specific regressions identified cut for cut. Another purpose of the comparisons between the different cuts was the study of individual species, identifying which of them have during the time more constants productions regard of other species, or understand by what parameters are more influenced the change in seeds production for each species. Finally, phenological analysis datas, were crossed with those obtained from the total seed production, with the aim of identifying the most appropriate method to define the optimal timing of harvest. In this regard we resorted to the parameters as thermal sum, that used with phenological analysis, allows to release the carried out analysis from the specific weather conditions patterns of the years studied
Effects of oilseed supplements on milk production and quality in dairy cows fed a hay-based diet
No full textThe influence of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) added to a dry forage basal diet of dairy cows on feed consumption, milk yield and composition and milk fatty acid (FA) profile was investigated. According to a latin square design, twelve cows (106 ± 52 DIM) were assigned to three experimental theses which received a hay-base diet (permanent meadow, grain-vitamin-mineral premix and cereal mix) supplemented with a mixture of: crushed barley (1.0 kg) and crushed maize (0.5 kg), Control (C) diet; full fat ground rapeseed (1.0 kg), crushed barley (1.0 kg) and crushed maize (0.5 kg), Rapeseed (R) diet; extruded linseed (1.2 kg), crushed barley (1.0 kg) and crushed maize (0.5 kg), Linseed (L) diet. Dietary treatment did not affect DM intake. As result of the high amount of dietary ether extract (3.2, 5.8 and 5.7% of DM, respectively, for C, R and L diet) R and L diet showed higher crude fat intake compared to C one. Despite the high intake of crude fat and all over of the polyunsaturated fraction, milk yield and milk composition resulted similar among treatments probably because of lipids sources were administrated as full fat (ground or extruded) oilseeds. Compared to C diet, R diet resulted in milk containing significantly lower saturated fatty acids (SFA) (66.9 vs 60.9% of total detected FA) and higher monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (24.2 vs 30.6%) percentage, but had no effect on polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). With respect to C diet, L diet also significantly reduced the content of SFA (66.9 vs 59.8%) and increased both MUFA (24.2 vs. 29.1%) and PUFA (4.1 vs 4.7%). Among single FA, dietary treatment influenced the level of C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 n-9, C18:3 n-3, even if the latter showed similar valued between C and R diets. Feeding these levels of whole oilseeds (about one kg per head) had not clear effects on milk vaccenic acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content. The inclusion of rapeseed in the diet significantly reduced the content of n-6 FA in the milk, whereas the diet supplemented with linseed significantly increased the content of n-3 FA. L diet led to a lower n-6/n-3 ratio, an intermediate value was observed for R diet. However, C16:0, C18:1 n-9 and the n-6/n-3 ratio showed a significant interaction between diet and trial period. The use of oilseed rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) in lactating dairy cows fed with hay-based diet resulted in substantial changes in milk FA profile with no effects on productive performance. Considering the increase of PUFA and the reduction of n-6/n-3 ratio as a desirable enrichment of milk fat from a human health perspective, under our experimental condition feeding linseed seems to improve better the nutritional value of milk than rapeseed
Costs of forage production in disadvantaged mountain areas
No full textMountain grassland represents an important source of ecosystem services. Its conservation is best achieved by means of a site-specific agricultural use, but less-favoured areas are currently endangered by abandonment because of ongoing socio-economic changes. In order to get a reliable figure of the costs of forage production for the mountain meadows of South Tyrol, an assessment including machinery and personnel costs, as well as the respective working times, was conducted in 2011 for 100 plots on 19 grassland farms. Our results show
a greater labour input as the steepness of meadows increases and the dimension of plots
declines. Thus, as far as farmers are rational economic agents, specific compensation measures are required for the conservation of extensive grasslands
- …
