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The objective of this study was to assess the effect of cutting time on the nutritional composition and dehydration rate of stargrass, as well as the nutritional value of the hay as a function of storage time. Two plant cutting times were analyzed: at 13:00 (H13) and 17:00 (H17). After cutting, the dehydration rate of both the plant and its fractions until baling was monitored. The bales were checked for nutritional composition and digestibility after 30, 60, 90 and 120 days. At the time of cutting, a difference was observed for the concentrations of ethanol-soluble carbohydrates, which were higher for H17 (90.3 g kg-1) compared to H13 (52.9 g kg-1). Leaf dehydration rates were higher in the H17 treatment. Cutting time had no influence on the nutritional value of the hay. With storage time, there was an increase in the levels of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber, and a reduction in the content of ethanol-soluble carbohydrates. It was concluded that cutting at 17:00 allows for a greater accumulation of soluble carbohydrates in the plant. Cutting time does not change the time required for dehydration and the nutritional value of the hay. Storage time reduces soluble components and increases fibrous constituents

This article restores an attribution for a sketchbook, now in the collection of the Getty Research Institute, shared by preeminent French woman artist of the nineteenth century Rosa Bonheur (1822–99) and her father and teacher, Raymond Bonheur (1796–1849). The sketchbook contains a range of entries in different media, including landscape studies by Raymond dating to the 1840s and drawings by Rosa from the early 1850s. Reidentified as a collaborative project spanning a period of two decades, the sketchbook offers a new material context for the artistic relationship between father and daughter as well as for the origins of Rosa’s great Salon successes The Horse Fair (1853–55) and Haymaking in the Auvergne (1855).

In order to accelerate the implementation of improved technologies, taking into account the requirements of a market economy, the economic assessment of the creation and use of long-term haymaking was carried out according to five technological systems of management, using the methodology approved by the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1995). On long-term haymaking (75 years of life) over the past 28 years, productivity in extensive low-cost management systems amounted to 1.9-3.9 thousand fodder. units / ha, conditionally net income 11.7-13.2 thousand rubles / ha, with a production profitability of 52-174%. In intensive technological systems, the productivity of long-term haymaking increased to 3.4-4.5 thousand fodder. units / ha, conditionally net income from 11.9 to 16.2 thousand rubles / ha, with a production profitability of 56-60%. Extensive management systems can be used on farms with limited material and technical resources. Capital costs for the creation of long-term haymaking during the development period (2 years) amounted to 32.5 thousand rubles / ha, which paid off in 1.4-3.0 years, the annual production costs for five technological systems - 6.6-28, 3 thousand rubles per year, 40-75% of them were hay bales, with a feed unit cost of 3.5-6.4 rubles. The creation of long-term hayfields on the basis of self-renewing cereal species of phytocenosis allows saving material resources for re-planting herbage by 8-10 times, providing animals with high-quality hay, and reducing the volume of concentrates in the winter stall period.

This paper proposes a new method for mapping hayfields in floodplain landscapes based on the use of multitemporal spectral–zonal data of earth remote sensing (ERS) of high spatial resolution (Sentinel-2) using an expert threshold of spectral brightness coefficient (SBC) in the red channel (the maximum composite of values for the vegetation period) for freshly cut vegetation adjusted for the values of the maximum composite for the growing season of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The regularities of changes in the values of SBC in the sloping and nonsloped territories in the RGB and NIR channels, as well as the values of the NDVI and NDWI indices, are revealed. Annual sloping areas within the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain (VAF) in Volgograd oblast are mapped. Here, an average of 12 000 ha (8%) of the territory is mowed annually, while most of the area is mowed in August–September (more than 65% of the area). Most sloping areas are 1 to 10 ha. At the same time, over the past 6 years, there has been a tendency toward an increase in both the total annual mowed areas and the areas of hayfields. It is revealed that the main annually mowed areas are concentrated around infrastructure facilities: closer to consumers and transport routes.

Under the aim of searching for a more sustainable grazing management system, a mixed management system (grazing and haymaking alternate annually) was proposed and tested against traditional management system (used consistently either for grazing or haymaking) in the semiarid grassland of Inner Mongolia with a field manipulation experiment. The responses of aboveground biomass to the two grazing management systems were examined across different levels of organization (i.e., species, plant functional group, and community) and in five consecutive years from 2005 to 2009. The effects of the two systems on seed production potential of four dominant species (Leymus chinensis, Stipa grandis, Agropyron cristatum, Cleistogenes squarrosa) were also investigated. Our results demonstrate that, in the traditional system, aboveground biomass production across all the levels of organization was reduced by grazing. In mixed system, however, no significantly negative relationship between the biomass response and stocking rate was detected at all organization levels. Precipitation fluctuation had strong influence on biomass responses, and compared to the traditional system the slope of the biomass-precipitation relationship tends to be higher in the mixed system. This effect might be attributed to the more positive response of L. chinensis and A. cristatum to increase in precipitation. In the traditional system, both the ratio and the density of reproductive tillers of the grazing subplots were significantly reduced compared to the haymaking or ungrazed control plots. In the mixed system, there was no significant difference between the haymaking subplots and the ungrazed control plots, regardless of the grazing pressures imposed on the haymaking subplots in the previous growing season. Our findings suggest that the mixed system mitigates the sheep grazing-induced species shift and it tends to be more responsive to increasing precipitation as compared to the traditional system. Therefore, replacement of the traditional grazing strategy with the mixed system could provide an important contribution to sustainable land-use of the Inner Mongolia grasslands.

Even though marandu palisadegrass is widely used in Brazil, the consumption of this forage may cause photosensitization in ruminants due to the protodioscin. This study aimed to recommend a harvest cutting interval for haymaking that provides a better nutritional value and lower levels of protodioscin. The experimental treatments were four cutting intervals (21 d, 35 d, 49 d, and 63 days of regrowth period up to forage harvest). The experimental design was a completely randomized block design with 4 treatments and 4 replications. We assessed the forage production, chemical composition, in vitro digestibility, in vitro degradation kinetics, and protodioscin content. The forage accumulation rate did not differ with the increased cutting interval. The crude protein contents and in vitro digestibility of dry matter decreased linearly with the increased cutting interval in fresh and hay material. The greatest gas production in hay material was occurred in 21 d cutting interval, which was 26%, 14%, and 5% greater than cutting intervals of 63, 49, and 35 d, respectively. A linear increase was observed in protodioscin concentration in hay according to the cutting interval, which in the hay with 63 d cutting interval was 7%, 29%, and 43% greater than hays with cutting interval of 49, 35, and 21 d, respectively. In addition, protodioscin contents were lower in hay compared to fresh material. The haymaking process reduced protodioscin content in relation to forage before haymaking. Our results showed that the better condition to harvest marandu palisadegrass for hay was at 21 d. The better condition to develop a productive canopy is associated with better nutritive value and lower protodioscin content.

This study evaluated the possibility of adopting haymaking farming machinery in giant reed (Arundo donax L.) harvesting. The test shows the technical and energy aspects of mechanical harvesting using only one specific machine, a shredding machine, designed and developed by an Italian constructor for large biomass herbaceous crops (giant reed, sorghums, switchgrass, Mischantus, etc). It is designed for high vegetative growth crops, as it is able to spread products over all soil surfaces or, alternatively, carry out windrowing. Tests were conducted in the south of Italy (Campania region) on the experimental farm Torre Lama in Bellizzi (SA). Biomass was shredded, dried in the field, and baled for use in a logistic chain and storage. The first step was the cutting and shredding of biomass crops with the specific shredder rear-mounted in an agricultural tractor. The biomass then was dried on the field, constantly monitored for moisture content, and finally, baled with a trailed round baler for storage (second step) and used in a specific logistic chain. The test showed good performance of the shredder machine between 1.17 and 1.77 ha h−1 with an operative speed between 3.9 and 5. 9 km h−1. To define the hourly production, a high wet production level of 60.70 t ha−1 and a low level of 56 t ha−1 were used as references. Under the climatic conditions of the experimental test, this harvesting system showed some advantages, such as the possibility of immediate and long-term biomass storage (less than 14% moisture content), the potential alternative use of the biomass, and the reduced resource use compared to that of other ordinary crops growing in the area.

The protection of wild animals from mutilation or being killed during haymaking is still a serious problem connected with high working speeds and widths of modern harvesting machines. That is why the main aim of this study was to test low-cost, high-speed and low-noise infrared array sensor Melexis MLX90621 for the application of wildlife detection with the potential to be used in front of the mower equipment. The tests with two different crops with or without a hidden dog were made. Results showed that the sensor is able to detect an animal hidden in the crop with very high probability. Nevertheless, direct sunlight conditions can cause the problems when using infrared technology. A simultaneous use of other sensors working on different principle than infrared technology can be thus recommended.

Questions: Is seedling emergence limited by the set of viable seeds, by incompatibility between the phenology of seed shedding and timing of mowing, or by dry weather in germination periods? Does seedling mortality fluctuate with season and weather? Location: Negrentino, southern Alps, Switzerland. Methods: Fecundity estimates of the dominant grass Bromus erectus; highly frequent counts of spontaneous seedlings by species and calculation of a community-level average mortality rate across 5 years; species-level records of seed shedding date and measurements of seed mass; measurement of soil moisture. Results: B. erectus produced 143.9 viable seeds/m2/year while the density of its seedlings was a 55 times smaller fraction. Grasses had fewer seedlings than forbs and their phenology of seed shedding was less compatible with mowing date. Soil moisture was a strong determinant of seedling emergence in spring and less so in autumn. Average seedling mortality declined with age of the populations and reached a maximum in an extremely dry summer. In relatively wet summers establishment success was positively related to seed mass. Conclusion: Community structure is susceptible to drought through mechanisms that selectively reduce recruits of coexisting plant functional groups. We propose that (1) more frequent intense droughts tend to reduce species that depend on frequent recruitment from seed, hence favour long-lived clonally spreading species, (2) drought timing selects between species with different germination phenology and drought resistance, and (3) drought impacts can be mitigated by changing management regimes that affect seed shedding. Nomenclature: Lauber & Wagner (1996).

The upper courses of brook valley systems harbour Nardo‐Galion saxatilis communities characteristic of oligotrophic soils under low‐intensity farming. Most of these communities have disappeared under intensified farming i.e. application of fertilizers. We studied the possibilities of restoration i.e. re‐establishment of the former plant community by adopting various cutting regimes after the cessation of fertilization in 1972. The various cutting regimes revealed different effects after 25 yr. Regimes with cutting every second year with or without removal of the swath, and complete abandonment deviated from the other regimes that included annual haymaking with different frequency and timing. The latter group of cutting regimes came closer to the community of an adjacent field where fertilization stopped in 1967. This field in turn harboured several Nardo‐Galion species after 25 yr of annual cutting, and showed more resemblance with a local reference community (at a distance of 500 m) that had not been fertilized since the 1940s. The local reference still does not match poorly developed Nardo‐Galion saxatilis communities found in the region of ca. 50 km around the study area, and is far from well developed Nardo‐Galion communities in the same region. The study site still harbours several species characteristic of eutrophic soil and few species characteristic of oligotrophic soil after 25 yr of annual cutting and removal of the swath. The soil seed bank harbours only few target species. Although species characteristic of oligotrophic soil are present in an adjacent field and Nardo‐Galion saxatilis species occur at 500 m, they have not (yet) established in the target area. Nomenclature: van der Meijden(1990).