The guidelines of different traditional Swiss semi hard and hard cheeses prohibit to feed conserved forage containing more than 18 % water to dairy cows. In two trials, the butyric acid bacterial content of the forage, faeces and milk of cattle fed with moist hay and silages was investigated. In the first trial, silages with…
With 40.5 million hectares under cultivation, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is the world’s fifth-most important arable crop. Although primarily cultivated in warmer regions, the area devoted to this crop in Europe has increased over the past few years – among other things because sorghum produces attractive yields even when little water is available. In order…
After the positive experience of expanding domestic production to the maximum in order to safeguard the food supply in the Second World War, greater importance has been attached to crop planning and storage for crisis situations in Switzerland than in neighbouring countries. The emergence of operational research meant that systems for the sole purpose of…
Plant protection products are applied to farmed land to protect crops from harmful organisms. From there, they might be transported via drift and run-off to adjacent habitats. For the active substances, regulatory acceptable concentrations (RAC) for aquatic organisms are determined during the authorization process. As part of the process of assessing the environmental risk, these…
The next land reform will force farmers to maximize the use of local feed resources. In the Jura, the heterogeneity of natural conditions drives to a variety of plant associations with specific production potential, often difficult to assess. Methods have been tested in plains and mountain regions to learn more about yield variability of the…
The assessment of the nutritional value of plants rich in condensed tannins (CT) stems from the models predicting the normal nutritional value. In order to verify the effects, this study compares the nutritional value of chicory (cychorium intybus), sainfoin (onobrychis viciifolia) and lotus (lotus corniculatus) obtained with data determined using animals (in vivo, in sacco)…
Annual livestock numbers, the distribution of livestock housing systems and NH3 emission factors were used to calculate ammonia emissions (NH3) from cattle farming for the years 1990 to 2020. Emission factors for loose housing with outdoor exercise areas were computed using a model-based calculation based on emission measurements from six dairy housing systems, milk urea…
The decision, whether a chemical fruit thinning in an apple orchard is necessary and to what extent, is often difficult. Currently growers take a decision without knowing the extend of natural fruit drop (June drop). In recent years two methods for prediction of fruit set respectively the intensity of June fruit drop in apples have…
Agriculture will undergo ecological intensification. Agroforestry systems which combine woody plants with arable crops and/or grassland provide ecological as well as economic benefits. One the one hand, agroforestry systems are characterised by higher overall productivity. On the other, they are expected to provide improved resource conservation and contribute to enhanced biodiversity. Whether this potential can…
When exposed to stress, plants produce protective compounds. These molecules contribute to their adaptation to environmental changes and to resistance to microbial attacks. Some fungal phytopathogenic species, especially those belonging to the Fusarium group, are also able to develop diseases in humans. In order to identify new sources of antifungal molecules of pharmacologic or agronomic…
A low feed intake during the first days after weaning predisposes piglets to diarrhea. Adding expensive milk byproducts such as whey or skim milk powder to their feed are used to stimulate their appetite. The effect of a diet which consisted of a piglet feed containing no milk byproducts supplemented with whole cow’s milk on…
Plant protection products (PPP) have become an important production factor in many agricultural cultivation systems without which the high quality and output of agricultural products cannot be guaranteed. On the other hand however, PPP often have dangerous properties, and can therefore only be brought into circulation in Switzerland once they have been approved by the…
From 2009 through 2011, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART and Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW tested 62 cultivars of perennial ryegrass, including 45 new cultivars. Yield, vigour, juvenile development, competitive ability, persistence, winter hardiness, resistance to leaf diseases and bacterial wilt, digestible organic matter content and suitability for higher altitudes were investigated. Of the early-to-mid-early varieties, «Algira», «Arcturus» and…
In order to check and improve the prediction of their nutritive value, 12 maize silages were studied as a supplement to the previous trials. Two varieties (Amadeo and LG32,52) were harvested at three different stages over the course of two years. The silages were studied to determine organic-matter digestibility (OMD) in the case of sheep,…
Traditional air to air heat recovery systems (HRS) are only useful at low outside temperatures as long as heat is required in animal housing. The incoming air can also be cooled by the heat exchanger if a high pressure water atomizer is installed in the HRS. If the outgoing air is humidified to saturation point…
The genbank of Agroscope ACW is more than one hundred years old and landraces, collected at the beginning of 1900 are still conserved and available. The actual conservation techniques allow the long term preservation of an important number of species. For the species conserved by seeds, the backup conservation is carried out in Norway, at…