Calf productivity by breeding Japanese Black cows grazed rotationally on a bahiagrass pasture under cow-calf grazing system was investigated in southern Kyushu. In the grazing season (May-October), a herd of animals (27-35 cows and 5-15 calves within 4 months-old) grazed on 5 paddocks of a bahiagrass pasture at 6.3ha totally, and was supplemented with self-supplying herbage only when herbage allowance was not sufficient from the pasture. In the non-grazing season (November-April), the same herd of animals as in the grazing season was housed and supplied only with self-supplied herbage. Calf productivity was estimated by the days until next conception and the number of AI services for conception after calving in the grazing season, which were 81.6±41.3 days and 1.4±0.9 times (n=133), respectively. A hot summer environment in the grazing season should not affect the conception rate negatively. The birth weight of both male and female calves was ranged in the standard of Japanese Black Cattle. From these results, it can be concluded that cow-calf grazing system used a bahiagrass pasture in summer season should be assessed as one of the promising system for calf production of Japanese Black Cattle in southern Kyushu.

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Condensed liquid made from shochu distiller grains (rice, barley, and sweet potato) were compared with regard to fermentation quality and dry matter recovery of the fermented total mixed ration (TMR). The materials' buffering capacity and volatile basic nitrogen increased and pH decreased by mixture of condensed liquids. During storage, the silage temperature increased immediately after ensiling. Subsequently, it peaked on day 4 after ensiling in the control. Although the temperature of the condensed liquid mixture TMR changed more than the ambient temperature did, the increase was gradual and almost constant. Regarding the fermentation quality of fermented TMR, the pH of the rice and barley condensed liquid portions was lower and the lactic acid content tended to be higher than in the control. In contrast, the lactic acid content was lower and C2+C3 content was higher in the sweet potato condensed liquid portion than in the control. Results show that Flieg's score of the sweet potato condensed liquid portion was lower than that of the control. The dry matter recovery rates were higher in the rice and barley condensed liquid portions than that of the control, although it was low in the sweet potato condensed liquid portion.

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This experiment aimed to evaluate the effects of the addition of urea or soy sauce cake to potato pulp on the fermentative quality of silage, nutritive value and nitrogen balance using 24 sheep. The potato pulp ensiled with 1% (fresh matter basis) urea (UPS) or with 44% (dry matter basis) wet soy sauce cake (SPS) to supply nitrogen, and with no additives (NPS) in 200L steel silos. UPS showed good fermentative quality with high lactic acid contents nevertheless the ratio of volatile basic nitrogen to total nitrogen (VBN/TN) was above 10%. The fermentative quality of SPS was excellent similar to NPS, having low pH and low VBN/TN. Aerobic deterioration of SPS occurred earlier than that of NPS and UPS. The ratio of undegraded intake protein to crude protein (CP) in SPS was similar to NPS. Although CP digestibility and nitorogen absorption in sheep for SPS diet were lower than those for UPS or NPS diets, results showed that urea and soy sauce cake can be utilized as cheep nitrogen supplements to potato pulp silage.

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Non-native pasture plants have been widely sown throughout Japan. However, they have often escaped to the surrounding habitats, forming naturalized populations. Some of these non-native plants have become agricultural or environmental weeds. To properly manage risks caused by the naturalized populations, collecting and compiling data on the invasion status and ecological attributes of the naturalized populations is essential. In this paper, we report the invasion status of ryegrasses in the floodplain of the Abe river (Shizuoka-city). We also measured their growth and reproductive attributes using a 60m transect at local scale. Naturalized populations of Italian ryegrass occurred frequently throughout the lower to middle reaches of the river, but their coverage seems to be low. Italian ryegrass invaded the habitats of the endangered butterfly (Lycaeides argyrognomon praeterinsularis), on four (57.1%) of the seven sites. However, we did not observe any negative effect of ryegrass growth on the butterfly's host plant. The plants which deeply invaded the floodplain generally produced a few tillers and exhibited short statures. Even these plants exhibited moderate seed sets, suggesting that pollen flow may be unexpectedly high in the floodplains with short plants.

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As a step toward establishing fertilizer application management based on nutrient recycling in grazed sward, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of grass and soil were investigated under different fertilizer application management conditions in short grass pasture (10-20cm of plant length) of Kentucky bluegrass and white clover mixture in the central region of Hokkaido. A total of 72kg of nitrogen, 42kg of phosphorus and 110kg of potassium (recommended levels for grazed sward in Hokkaido) were applied to the pasture in 1997-1999. In 2000, the fertilizer application rate was reduced to 1/3. The nutrient content of both grass and soil increased year on year in 1997-1999. In 1999, the nitrate nitrogen content of the grass increased to 0.2%, and the blood urea nitrogen content of grazing cattle increased to 200mg/L. In 2000, the reduction of the fertilizer application rate led to a corresponding decrease in the nutrient content of both grass and soil. This result showed that the recommended fertilizer application level in Hokkaido was too high for this pasture. Analyzing the nutrient balance proved useful in understanding these results. Setting an effective rate of fertilizer application in consideration of nutrient balance will be important in the near future in establishing grazing management for Kentucky bluegrass pasture.

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I examined the relationship between patches of Rosa multiflora Thunb. and the spatial distribution of saplings of woody species in a grazing pasture and the difference in sapling growth inside and outside the patches to elucidate the influence of the distribution of this thorny plant on grassland succession. I used the belt transect method to measure the locations and heights of the patches and saplings in a 1007-m^2 study plot in a pasture adjacent to a secondary evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest in a warm-temperate region of Japan. The numbers of saplings per unit area were greater inside than outside the patches for all but 2 of the 14 woody species. The appearance frequency of saplings was significantly higher inside the patches than outside for four of five species with more than 10 saplings. Sapling height tended to be higher inside the patches than outside for four of these five species, but the difference was only significant for one species. R. multiflora thus defends and maintains not only its own population but also sapling populations of other woody species inside the patches by physically defending itself with its thorns against grazing cattle. These results therefore suggest that R. multiflora promotes vegetation succession by maintaining the sapling bank of later-successional species such as trees in grasslands.

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In order to examine the effect of re-growing after the first cutting on the yield, chemical composition and digestibility of kenaf as a feed for ruminants, the seeds of late maturing type kenaf (KB2) were sowed on the 24th in May and the experimental field was divided into two treatment areas. Kenaf was cut at near height of ground level and the seeds were sowed immediately after the harvesting (Treatment A). Kenaf was cut at the height of second node and re-grew thereafter (Treatment B). Thereafter, kenaf was harvested (Second cutting) immediately after the plant length was longer than 1m in treatment A and B, respectively. DM yields of kenaf were 761.4 and 679.2kg/ha at the first cutting and 323.8kg/ha and 288.3kg/ha at the second cutting in Treatment A and B, respectively. CP contents and in vitro DM disappearance rates of kenaf at the first cutting were lower than those of kenaf at the second cutting in both Treatment A and B. On the other hand, NDF and ADF contents of kenaf at the first cutting were higher than those of kenaf at the second cutting in both Treatment A and B. The results show that re-growing of kenaf after the first cutting is an effective method to obtain high quality roughage.

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Whole crop rice silage is abundant in α-tocopherol which shows an improvement of beef meets color. Howevere, α-tocopherol is easily decomposed by heat, oxygen, light, etc. Here, we determined the rate of α-tocopherol decomposition in whole crop rice silage under conditions of oven drying and refrigeration. The decomposition rates ranged from 30% to 96% at 40-105℃ under oven drying. In addition, α-tocopherol was also decomposed under refrigeration at 4℃ for 2 months. We concluded that when performing a quantitative analysis of α-tocopherol content in silage, the samples must not be subjected to heat drying. And the samples must keep at -80℃ until analysis.

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