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Pasja - Forage Brassica |
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| Pasja is an early maturing (50-70 days) turnip hybrid that has been bred for rapid growth and high stock performance. It is characterised by the production of large amounts of leaf and little bulb. The bulb is well anchored in the soil and has a crown that enables the bulb to grow vigorously. In production trials at Cressy in Tasmania and Gundagai NSW, Pasja has out-yielded Hunter by an average 10%. Yield Results Benefits of fibre Sometimes the quality of forages is so high (high protein and high digestibility), rumen function is not very effective and high levels of animal productivity may not be achieved. Brassicas are highly digestible and contain good levels of protein, but sometimes don't support optimum levels of animal performance. Feeding a source of fibre to ruminants can aid digestion and improve animal productivity when feed quality is extremely high. This 'effective' fibre is the type of fibre that encourages animals to chew. Chewing encourages salivation, and saliva is a rich source of sodium bicarbonate, a buffer that helps balance acids produced during gut fermentation. Fibre also encourages more cud chewing and firms up liquid dung that is often seen on high quality feeds. In a trial at Wrightson's Kimihia Research Centre in New Zealand, lambs were grazed on Pasja alone, Pasja plus lucerne hay and Pasja plus ryegrass straw. Liveweight differences between treatments were obvious by the third of grazing and continued for the remainder of the study. Lambs supplemented with ryegrass straw grew at faster rates than lambs fed either no fibre, or lambs supplemented with lucerne hay. Mean growth rate of lambs fed Pasja plus ryegrass straw improved by 21 g/d compared with lambs fed Pasja only. Mean growth rate of lambs fed Pasja plus lucerne hay reduced by 37 g/d (see table below).
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 Michael Peltzer, mixed farmer, Launceston Tas |
What the farmers say: "Following a recommendation from my local agronomist, Andrew Taylor, I used Wrightson Seeds Pasja. We wanted something that would give us a quick summer feed from sowing. By the sixth week from germination we were grazing it. It was unbelievable! It was reputed to deliver 10 t/ha of feed, which it did handsomely. With the irrigation we were able to manipulate the Pasja and get some serious performance out of it. I planted 75ha under one pivot at the end of November and started grazing in January. I cut the pivot into four equal parts. We grazed 450 Hereford and Hereford Angus cross yearlings, grazing a quarter at a time for a week to 10 day interval, keeping the plant as a young as possible. The stock continually grazed it for three months. The Pasja bound them better than anything and they stacked the weight on. The stock were doing famously, over a kilogram per day. Normally rapes can be a problem prior to a poppy crop due to rebel plants, but Pasja wasn't a problem. We'll sow it again." |
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©Steve Cselka 2006 - 2011 |
