2023/10/01 by Peter L. Carey, Brendon J. Malcolm, Shane C. Maley · 1 citation
paper · doi:10.1080/00288233.2022.2097269
crossref created 2022/07/28 · crossref issued 2023/10/01 · crossref published 2023/10/01 · crossref published-online 2023/10/01 · crossref published-print 2023/10/01 · crossref deposited 2026/01/25 · crossref indexed 2026/08/05
ABSTRACT Eight oats catch crop trials were conducted over two years on winter forage paddocks on commercial dairy farms in Canterbury and Southland measuring the effect of tillage and timing‐by‐tillage, respectively, on dry‐matter (DM) yields, N uptake and profitability (gross profit margin). The main objective was to successfully integrate catch crops into winter forage rotations over a critical period when the soil is normally bare and the potential for N drainage loss from urinary‐N deposition is high. Oat harvest yields at green‐chop silage maturity (∼50% panicle emergence) ranged from 8 to 10 t DM/ha when sown by the end of winter (4–5 months after drilling). Nitrogen uptakes ranged from 52 to 363 kg N/ha. Net gross profit typically ranged from NZ1000 to NZ1600/ha (assuming revenue of NZ0.20/kg DM for standing feed). Minimum‐till cultivation produced higher DM yields than direct‐drill treatments in both years of the Canterbury trials (∼30% higher overall) but where N availability and good soil‐seed contact were maintained, differences in yield were small (∼5%). Earlier sowing in Southland using a spader‐drill combination increased DM yields and N uptake overall by 123% and 48%, respectively, over later sown conventional tillage options.