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Improvement of calculation methods for net grassland production under different grassland utilization systems

van de Goor, Stijn (2016) Improvement of calculation methods for net grassland production under different grassland utilization systems. Masters thesis, University of Wageningen , Farming Systems Ecology Group Droevendaalsesteeg 1 – 6708 PB Wageningen - The Netherlands. . [Completed]

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Summary

Throughout Europe, grass is major source of nutrition for ruminants. Grass can be grazed, fed fresh, as silage or as hay or in a preserved form as silage or hay. Over the past years summerfeeding has increased at the cost of grazing in dairy herds. One important reason for farmers to house their animals is optimization of grassland utilization. Investigations show than summerfeeding has higher yields than grazing, but is this also the case with net production. This study researched energetic calculation methods for the determination of net grassland production. The energy systems evaluated are the methods of Lantinga, Leisen and the KringloopWijzer (KW). The objective of this paper is to analyse, compare and check the reliability of these energy calculation methods for the determination of the net energy yield of grassland. The next step is to optimize and formulate a new model, based on the models investigated. With this new model European countries can use one calculation method for determining the net energy production from grass. It would be interesting to investigate the influence of grass management type on energy productivity.
Instead of measuring the production of grass in the field, the net energy production of grassland is calculated, based on energetic requirements of the herd for maintenance, production and other additional requirements. These requirements are equal to energy consumed as concentrate, roughages and other feeds. The energy consumed from concentrate and other feeds is subtracted; the remaining energy is from roughages. The difficulty lies in calculating the energy consumed from grazing.


EPrint Type:Thesis
Thesis Type:Masters
Subjects: Animal husbandry > Production systems
Animal husbandry > Production systems > Dairy cattle
Animal husbandry > Feeding and growth
Research affiliation: Netherlands
Deposited By: König, Prof. Dr. Sven
ID Code:30793
Deposited On:21 Nov 2016 16:21
Last Modified:21 Nov 2016 16:21
Document Language:English
Status:Unpublished

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