The role of ecophysiology in the design of specialized pasture managements

Abstract

Some examples are presented to illustrate how ecophysiology can contribute to pasture management. For that purpose, various experimental results obtained with typical pastures (i.e. tall fescue) growing on poor soils are presented to demonstrate the relevance of potential treatments to discriminate between genotypic and environmental effects, as well as the effect of nutritional limitations on the utilization of environmental resources (v.g. solar radiation, rainfall), and the association between forage quality and the dynamics of leaf growth and turnover. This information confirms the potential of well-managed perennial pastures in terms of herbage production and nutritive quality and animal performance. In practice, however, production systems fall short of the standards achievable by well-managed pastures. It is suggested that pasture management practices based on sound ecophysiological concepts could be key to bridge this gap.