The effects of clover and nitrogen fertiliser on the presence of pasture pests in dairy pastures

Authors

  • Alison Popay AgResearch
  • Derrick Wilson AgResearch
  • Colin Ferguson AgResearch
  • David Chapman DairyNZ
  • Julia Lee DairyNZ
  • Gerald Cosgrove AgResearch
  • David Stevens AgResearch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.17.2021.3448

Keywords:

environmental constraints, host plants, insect nutrition, macronutrients, pest management

Abstract

A comprehensive dataset obtained from sampling four trials investigating interactions between perennial ryegrass and white clover under two levels of applied nitrogen (N) has highlighted different effects of pasture composition and N use on pasture pests.
• For swards with white clover, presence of clover root weevil, whitefringed weevil and grass grub increased under low N by 36%, 11% and 5%, respectively, compared with high N treatments.
• High N increased the presence of both Argentine stem weevil and root aphid by 7%.
• Unexpectedly, clover reduced the presence of two grass feeders, Argentine stem weevil and black beetle, by 7% and 11% respectively.
• Presence of grass grub was 17-30% lower under tetraploid ryegrasses than under diploids.
• More clover and reduced N fertiliser inputs could reduce the frequency of black beetle and Argentine stem weevil with environmental benefits.

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Published

2021-05-07

Issue

Vol. 17 (2021): Resilient Pastures Symposium

Section

Resilient Pastures Symposium 2021

License

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Rights granted to the New Zealand Grassland Association through this agreement are non-exclusive. You are free to publish the work(s) elsewhere and no ownership is assumed by the NZGA when storing or curating an electronic version of the work(s). The author(s) will receive no monetary return from the Association for the use of material contained in the manuscript. If I am one of several co-authors, I hereby confirm that I am authorized by my co-authors to grant this Licence as their agent on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes the rights to supply the article in electronic and online forms and systems.