In Western Australia, kikuyu is grown in many areas of the southwest region where irrigation occurs. If managed well with good water quality and good grazing practice, kikuyu can provide nutritional feed for dairy cows during summer and the shoulders of the growing season, alleviating feed shortage. In the summer/autumn of 2018/19, Western Dairy (WD) sought to answer the question “Does kikuyu stack up as an irrigated summer pasture?”. Specifically, how responsive is kikuyu to nitrogen (N), frequency of N application, and grazing management. Also, how does it perform under pivot versus surface irrigation and when there is a salt load in the irrigation water.
Results showed that centre pivot outperformed surface irrigation, with either fresh or salted water, on kikuyu growth. Also, applying 1.2 kg N /ha /day after each harvest had the most cost-effective growth compared to applying 2.4 or 3.6 kg N /ha /day. Compared to other home-grown summer feeds kikuyu does stack up well with good water use efficiency (WUE) and cost efficiency. It has high potential growth up to and beyond 120 kg DM /ha /day and the sweet spot for cutting or grazing is at the 4th leaf stage. However, supplements are needed.
Link to the project website:
https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/publications/irrigation-projects?id=5D6EAF1698024FB297AF725087E727EE
Link to final results:
https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/-/media/dairyaustralia/westerndairy/news-pubs-media/publication-files-and-images/summary_2019.pdf?la=en&hash=2401F56CD8FD5102C7BAF0A30E3CFA784FE7C3DC
Thanks to Western Dairy for sharing their trial results!
Results showed that centre pivot outperformed surface irrigation, with either fresh or salted water, on kikuyu growth. Also, applying 1.2 kg N /ha /day after each harvest had the most cost-effective growth compared to applying 2.4 or 3.6 kg N /ha /day. Compared to other home-grown summer feeds kikuyu does stack up well with good water use efficiency (WUE) and cost efficiency. It has high potential growth up to and beyond 120 kg DM /ha /day and the sweet spot for cutting or grazing is at the 4th leaf stage. However, supplements are needed.
Link to the project website:
https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/publications/irrigation-projects?id=5D6EAF1698024FB297AF725087E727EE
Link to final results:
https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/-/media/dairyaustralia/westerndairy/news-pubs-media/publication-files-and-images/summary_2019.pdf?la=en&hash=2401F56CD8FD5102C7BAF0A30E3CFA784FE7C3DC
Thanks to Western Dairy for sharing their trial results!