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Item A comparative analysis of agronomic water-use efficiency and its proxy measures as derived from key morpho-physiological and supportive quantitative genetics attributes of perennial ryegrass under imposed drought(John Wiley and Sons Ltd and New Phytologist Foundation, 2023-10-10) Weerarathne LVY; Jahufer Z; Schäufele R; Lopez I; Matthew CWater-use efficiency (WUE) is an under-researched but very important drought tolerance trait in forage breeding. This research estimated quantitative genetic parameters of morpho-physiological traits linked to agronomic water-use efficiency (WUEA) and its proxy measures based on δ13C (WUEi) or gas exchange (evapotranspiration, WUEAET, or stomatal conductance WUEASC) of genotypes from half-sib families of Lolium perenne L. (PRG) in a simulated summer drought cycle. Principal component analysis (PCA) of trait data distinguished a group of PRG genotypes where high WUEA and dry matter yield was associated with deep rooting, leaf hydration at more negative leaf osmotic and water potential, and reduced soil moisture depletion. Plants with this trait association sustained net assimilation and postdefoliation regrowth in drought. However, WUEi, WUEASC, and WUEAET were poorly correlated with most traits of interest at p < .05. Another PCA revealed a weak association between WUEA and its proxy measures under conditions tested. Quantitative genetic parameters including high estimates of narrow-sense heritability (hn2>0.7;p<.05) of WUEA and related traits emphasized the genetic potential of the key trait combination for selecting PRG for improved drought tolerance. Research findings highlight the relative importance of WUEA and its proxy measures in the broad definition of PRG drought tolerance for breeding purposesItem Feed profile analysis of oil palm-integrated beef cattle farming systems by metabolic energy budgeting and implications for beef production and pastoral system design(John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Chinese Grassland Society and Lanzhou University, 2023-04-17) Gobilik J; Baco H; Kabul MA; Dollah S; Morris ST; Matthew C; Nan ZBackground: Oil palm is a tropical crop with worldwide plantings approaching 20 million ha and large areas in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The plantations are readily managed as silvopastoral systems incorporating cattle grazing (Oil Palm Silvopastoral System for Cattle, OPSC) but there is a need for analytical tools and data to understand system herbage supply and feed conversion efficiency (FCE). Methods: Metabolic energy budgeting was used to estimate herbage harvested by cattle in three OPSC subsystems, 9 and 12 years after oil palm establishment, and FCE of the subsystems was determined. Understorey herbage was also analysed for nutritive value, botanical composition and herbage accumulation within one grazing-regrowth cycle. Results: The herbage-harvested estimate was 2.0−2.4 t dry matter (DM) ha−1 year−1 for 9 year old subsystems and 1.4−1.7 t DM ha−1 year−1 for a 12 year old subsystem. Herbage metabolisable energy (ME) was 8.3−8.5 MJ kg−1 DM and crude protein (CP) was 15%−16% DM. FCE values for subsystems ranged from 32 to 94 kg DM kg−1 liveweight-gain. Conclusions: Herbage DM yield is declining, while herbage ME is marginal but CP is adequate. FCE is suboptimal but can be optimised by defining the trajectory of declining herbage production with canopy closure as plantations age and matching stocking rate to herbage supply using a comparative-stocking-rate-type statistic.Item Evolution in configuration and productivity of new zealand hill country sheep and beef cattle systems(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-06-08) Gobilik J; Morris ST; Matthew C; Adriana BMetabolic energy budgeting (MEB) was used to evaluate evolution over 30 years (1980–1981 to 2010–2011) in New Zealand southern North Island ‘hill country’ sheep and beef cattle systems. MEB calculates energy required by animals for body weight maintenance, weight gain or loss, pregnancy, and lactation to estimate the system feed demand and thereby provide a basis for calculating feed conversion efficiency. Historic production systems were reconstructed and modeled using averaged data from industry surveys and data from owners’ diaries of three case-study farms and reviewed for patterns of change over time. The modeling indicated that pasture productivity was 11% lower and herbage harvested was 14% lower in 2010–2011 than in the early 1980s. This productivity decline is attributable to warmer, drier summer weather in recent years. However, primarily through increased lambing percentage, feed conversion efficiency based on industry data improved over the study period from 25 to 19 kg feed consumed per kg lamb weaned, while meat production rose from 137 to 147 kg per ha per year. Similar improvements were observed for the three case farms. The New Zealand MEB model was found effective for analysis of tropical beef production systems in Sabah, Malaysia.Item Transcriptome-Wide Gene Expression Plasticity in Stipa grandis in Response to Grazing Intensity Differences(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-11-02) Dang Z; Jia Y; Tian Y; Li J; Zhang Y; Huang L; Liang C; Lockhart PJ; Matthew C; Li FY; Hobza ROrganisms have evolved effective and distinct adaptive strategies to survive. Stipa grandis is a representative species for studying the grazing effect on typical steppe plants in the Inner Mongolia Plateau. Although phenotypic (morphological and physiological) variations in S. grandis in response to long-term grazing have been identified, the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptations and plastic responses remain largely unknown. Here, we performed a transcriptomic analysis to investigate changes in gene expression of S. grandis under four different grazing intensities. As a result, a total of 2357 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified among the tested grazing intensities, suggesting long-term grazing resulted in gene expression plasticity that affected diverse biological processes and metabolic pathways in S. grandis. DEGs were identified in RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR analyses that indicated the modulation of the Calvin-Benson cycle and photorespiration metabolic pathways. The key gene expression profiles encoding various proteins (e.g., ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, glycolate oxidase, etc.) involved in these pathways suggest that they may synergistically respond to grazing to increase the resilience and stress tolerance of S. grandis. Our findings provide scientific clues for improving grassland use and protection and identifying important questions to address in future transcriptome studies.Item Observations on the role of endophyte in field performance of ryegrass and tall fescue in New ZealandMatthew CPresented to: breakout meeting of the China/JapanKorea Grassland Association: “International Symposium on Forage Disease and Grassland Management” held at College of pastoral Agriculture, Science & Technology, Lanzhou UnivesityItem Facilitating vertical integration of knowledge from animal physiology to farm system level(2012) Matthew C; Parkinson T; Kemp PWe describe a teaching methodology evolved over 25 years for taking incoming students with little farming background to near-consultancy level in terms of ability to discuss feed supply and demand manipulation with practicing farmers. The methodology is currently used in a double semester course offering to 2nd year BVSc students at Massey University with positive feedback from students. Component skills such as visual assessment of herbage mass are introduced at the outset. A keystone of the methodology is the provision of student operated 'farmlets' with 16 sheep on 0.8 ha, where the storage of autumn-surplus feed as increased herbage mass, and release back to animals for winter and early lactation feed is demonstrated. Feed budget calculations for these farmlets in units of MJ metabolisable energy and kg pasture DM/ha/ day promote understanding of animal physiology principles and simulate those of a larger scale commercial farm. As currently offered the module comprises 20 lectures and 5 organised 2 hour farmlet discussion and data collection visits. Students complete additional farmlet work in their own time, such as moving or weighing sheep. Two written assignments promote integration of component knowledge and ownership of that information by participants.Item Seasonal variation in soil and herbage CO2 efflux for a sheep-grazed alpine meadow on the north-east Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and estimated net annual CO2 exchange(2/06/2022) Yuan H; Matthew C; He XZ; Sun Y; Liu Y; Zhang T; Gao X; Yan C; Chang S; Hou FThe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a vast geographic area currently subject to climate warming. Improved knowledge of the CO2 respiration dynamics of the Plateau alpine meadows and of the impact of grazing on CO2 fluxes is highly desirable. Such information will assist land use planning. We measured soil and vegetation CO2 efflux of alpine meadows using a closed chamber technique over diurnal cycles in winter, spring and summer. The annual, combined soil and plant respiration on ungrazed plots was 28.0 t CO2 ha-1 a-1, of which 3.7 t ha-1 a-1occurred in winter, when plant respiration was undetectable. This suggests winter respiration was driven mainly by microbial oxidation of soil organic matter. The winter respiration observed in this study was sufficient to offset the growing season CO2 sink reported for similar alpine meadows in other studies. Grazing increased herbage respiration in summer, presumably through stimulation of gross photosynthesis. From limited herbage production data, we estimate the sustainable yield of these meadows for grazing purposes to be about 500 kg herbage dry matter ha-1 a-1. Addition of photosynthesis data and understanding of factors affecting soil carbon sequestration to more precisely determine the CO2 balance of these grasslands is recommended.Item Workshop on Publication PreparationMatthew C; Millner; WoodItem Difference in measuring machines & practical feed estimationMatthew C2 hour session for Zoetis refresher course for practicing veterinarians.Item Exploring root traits associated with increased yield under water deficit in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) germplasm of Mediterranean and European origins.(2015-10) Huassion S; Matthew C; Naeem M; Easton HSExploring root traits associated with increased yield under water deficit in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) germplasm of Mediterranean and European origins Sajjad Hussain1, Cory Matthew2, Muhammad Naeem3, H. Sydney Easton4 1Plant Genetic Resources Institute, National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 3Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, Islamabad, Pakistan, 4AgResearch, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Contact: shmalik25@hotmail.com Introduction Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is now one of the most widely used forage grass species in temperate pastoral agriculture and in recent years breeding for improved performance in summer drought conditions has become a focus. Germplasm of Spanish origin has been widely used in New Zealand plant breeding (Stewart, 2006), but another possibility that has attracted comparatively little research to date is introgression of summer dormant germplasm of North African origin with material of European origin. Methods Plants of a New Zealand-bred perennial ryegrass cultivar “Grasslands Samson”, a summer dormant Australian cultivar “Medea” developed in the 1960’s from germplasm of Mediterranean origin (Silsbury, 1961), and the F1 and F2 progenies of the two parents were compared during summer 2010-11 in a glasshouse study at Palmerston North, New Zealand. The experiment compared rooting behavior and herbage yield of the two cultivars and studied the pattern of inheritance of those traits to F1 and F2 progeny. Plants grown in 100 cm lengths of soil-filled PVC pipes were initially bottom-watered in 200 liter drums and then drought was imposed by gradually lowering the water table until plants survived on water retained in the soil profile. At a concluding destructive harvest, herbage yield (DW) and tiller number (TN) were recorded, while total root mass (Rt), coarse root mass (Rc) fine root mass (Rf) and gravimetric soil moisture % (SMC) were all measured for three soil depths (0-30, 30-60 and below 60 cm). From these data root:shoot ratio (R:S), deep root (below 30 cm): shoot ratio (DR:S), an index of deep rooting (% total root below 30 cm, IDR), and DW/(0.2 – SMC) as an index of efficient water use (IEWU) were derived. Results and Discussion Medea exhibited deep rooting compared to Grasslands Samson indicated by higher R:S, DR:S and IDR, that had never been studied since its release in Australia. However, it had lower IWU, 83% lower DW and 87% lower TN than Grasslands Samson – a characteristic of Mediterranean origin pasture species. On the question of introgressing root traits of Medea to Grasslands Samson: in the F1 generation, some plants surpassed Medea for some root traits (eg DR:S and IDR), while F2 plants were similar to Grasslands Samson parents, However, within Grasslands Samson itself some plants showed high IEWU. Conclusion Introgression of Medea genes into Grasslands Samson will not be straight forward. However, direct selection for maintenance of growth under moderate water deficit with reduced soil moisture extraction per unit DW is an immediate option for improving drought tolerance in perennial ryegrass, providing the trait proves sufficiently heritable. Stewart AV (2006) Genetic origins of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) for New Zealand Pastures. Pp11-20 In: Breeding for success: diversity in action, (ed, CF. Mercer) Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference, Christchurch, NZ. Silsbury JH (1961) A study of dormancy, survival and other characteristics in Lolium perenne L. at Adelaide, SA. Aust. J. Ag. Res.12:1-9.
