Optimising sward structure and herbage yield for the performance of dairy cows at pasture.

The basic unit of intake is the bite.The total daily intake of grazed grass is determined by the number of bites taken and the weight of the average bite.In this project the focus was on sward structure (architecture) and its effects on bite volume and weight.There were two objectives.The first was to determine the plant growth mechanism responsible for variations in sward structure.The investigation was carried out at The Queen's University in Belfast and involved microscopic study of leaves from plants grown under controlled conditions.The second objective, to determine how bite volume and mass was affected by differences in sward structure was a field study using fistulated cows and was done at Moorepark.