Project Number: 6227-21310-008-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Oct 01, 2007
End Date: Sep 30, 2012

Objective:
Objective 1: Determine effects of plant and endophyte genetics, management practices, and environmental conditions on sward yield, persistence, and forage quality and anti-quality factors, and the resulting animal response in forage systems in which tall fescue is a component. Subobjective 1.A. Develop a better understanding of plant physiological processes that impart persistence in tall fescue and the interaction between the plant and Neotyphodium endophyte in these processes. Use this new understanding and plant selection techniques to develop new populations of tall fescue that are either endophyte free or contain nontoxic endophytes that promote host persistence under grazing. Subobjective 1.B. Determine the potential toxicity of tall fescue grazing systems, including complementary grazing, intensive grazing, and stockpiling, by better understanding how plant physiological, morphological, and genetics factors, and pre- and post-harvest management decisions affect ergot alkaloid content. Objective 2: Determine management schemes for the sustainable production of small ruminants from temperate pastures. Objective 3: Improve inorganic and organic fertilizer use efficiency in pastures. Subobjective 3.A. Improve the efficiency of organic and inorganic fertilizer use in pastures by incorporating nutrients into the soil. Subobjective 3.B. Evaluate the effects of grazing systems and buffers on the loss of agrochemicals from pastures and hay fields.

Approach:
Replicated field experiments will evaluate cow-calf and stocker management practices and genotypes on novel endophyte-free or -infected tall fescue pastures to alleviate fescue toxicosis and improve calf production. Grazing and management systems will be developed for sheep and goat production to manage gastrointestinal nematodes and improve post-weaning gains of lambs and kids. A tractor-drawn implement to incorporate poultry litter under the soil surface in perennial pasture will be developed, and a comparison of nutrient losses from applied poultry litter compared to conventional surface application will be examined. Cattle grazing systems and buffers will be examined to reduce the loss of agrochemicals from pastures and hay fields by collecting runoff water samples from watersheds for sediment and nutrient analyses and soil properties will be characterized. Management practices will be evaluated that optimize the proportion of a landscape/farm in temperate pastures and silvopastures to maximize environmental and economic returns. Potential bioenergy feedstocks will be examined for their suitability to integration in mid-South pasture and silvopasture systems.