Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2018
Authors
Liv Østrem Marcin Rapacz Arild Larsen Petter Marum Odd Arne RognliAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Pauline Bristiel Lauren Gillespie Liv Østrem Jennifer Balachowski Cyrille Violle Florence VolaireAbstract
1. A core tenet of functional ecology is that the vast phenotypic diversity observed in the plant kingdom could be partly generated by a trade-off between the ability of plants to grow quickly and acquire resources in rich environments vs. the ability to conserve resources and avoid mortality under stress. However, experimental demonstrations remain scarce and potentially blurred by phylogenetic constraints in cross-species analyses. Here, we experimentally decoupled growth potential and stress survival by applying an off-season stress on contrasting populations of the perennial grass Dactylis glomerata exhibiting a range of seasonal dormancy.2. Seventeen populations of D. glomerata, originating from a latitudinal gradient from Norway to Morocco, were subjected to three types of dehydration stress: winter frost in Norway, and summer drought and early spring (off-season) drought stress in the south of France. Growth rate and two leaf traits (leaf width and leaf dry matter content) suspected to be involved in the adaptation to dehydration stress were monitored under optimal conditions. We quantified plant dehydration survival as the amount of plant recovery after a severe stress.3. Nordic populations were found to be winter-dormant. Winter- and summer-dor-mant populations better survived frost and summer drought, respectively. However, no trade-off between growth potential and dehydration survival was detected in non-dormant plants in early spring when dehydration occurred unsea-sonably for all populations. Furthermore, Mediterranean populations better survived an early spring drought.4. Our results highlight the importance of assessing plant growth potential as a re-sponse to seasonal environmental cues. They suggest that growth potential and stress survival trade off when plants exhibit seasonal dormancy but can be func-tionally independent at other seasons. Consequently, the growth–stress survival relationship could be better described as a dynamic linkage rather than a constant and general trade-off. Moreover, leaf trait values, such as thinner and more ligni-fied leaves reflecting drought adaptation, may have contributed to the improved drought-stress survival without resulting in a cost to growth. 5. Further exploration of the growth–stress survival relationship should permit deci-phering the suite of plant traits and trait covariations involved in plants’ responses to increasing stress.
Abstract
Although pasture is low-cost feed, many farmers find it difficult to maintain high milk yield when using pasturefor high-yielding dairy cows in automatically milked herds. Therefore, a seven-week experiment with 40 cows inearly to mid-lactation was performed to evaluate a management model for including pasture in the diet withoutjeopardizing milk production. Within a part-time grazing system with morning and evening outdoor access, wecompared a group with ad libitum grass silage indoors combined with access to a small grass-covered permanentpaddock for exercise and recreation (group EX) with a group offered production pasture at a high allowance percow and day combined with restricted grass silage allowance at night (group PROD). Both groups had the sameoutdoor access times and the same concentrate allowance based on pre-experimental milk yield. Milk yield andmilking frequency were recorded daily in the automatic milking unit. Milk recordings and samplings for de-termination of milk composition took place weekly and outdoor behaviour of cows was recorded during pastureaccess hours on six observation days, evenly distributed over the experimental period. During the experiment,average metabolisable energy concentration was higher in the grass silage offered both groups than in pastureherbage. However, our results showed no significant difference in daily milk yield between treatments.Furthermore, no signifi cant differences between treatments were found in energy-corrected milk, milk fatproduction, or body weight change. Milk protein production was, however, significantly higher in group PROD.In early lactation, no difference in milking frequency was observed between treatments while for cows in mid- tolate lactation, milking frequency was significantly higher in group EX than group PROD. Over the entire ex-periment, group EX cows spent significantly less time outdoors than group PROD. In conclusion, offering highyielding dairy cows in automatic milking systems high-quality pasture at a high allowance for a few hours inmorning and afternoon appears to be an interesting alternative to exercise paddock with full indoor feeding, as itcan reduce costs for supplementary silage, facilitate natural behaviour, and encourage cows to spend more timeoutdoors, while maintaining milk production at a level comparable to that of full indoor feeding.
Authors
Steffen AdlerAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Steffen AdlerAbstract
The aim of the research project is to gain new knowledge about local production of protein feed for monogastric animals in organic farming, deriving from forage legumes. New knowledge will contribute to strengthen the agricultural sector in Europe as a whole, by improved utilisation of biological resources and competency on local food systems.
Authors
Emily Hill Sveinn Are Hanssen Bjørn Munro Jenssen Anette Fenstad Tomasz Maciej Ciesielski Syverin Lierhagen Jón Einar Jónsson Thordur Ôrn Kristjansson Thomas Holm Carlsen Geir W. Gabrielsen Børge MoeAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
O. Janne Kjønaas Sunil Mundra Teresa Gómez de la Bárcena Mette Hansen Gro Hylen Håvard KauserudAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered