P4: Feedbase – Intensive Systems

This project integrates precision agriculture, real-time monitoring of plants and soils, and advanced modelling, to grow more and better forage crops and increase water and land-use efficiency of intensified dairy systems.

Dairy UP’s P4 project involves five areas of work:

  1. Integrate precision crop nourishment (timing, source, interactions summer-winter forage crops) through digital agriculture (digital soil mapping, digital sampling, decomposed digital data, precision water and N).
  2. Advanced real-time monitoring of crop development (and its application on forecast/planning and ration formulation).
  3. Quantify and verify water use efficiency of simple, double and triple forage crop systems.
  4. Upskill of management practices to produce quality silage.
  5. New directions in maize research: Brown Mid-Rib corn; genetic improvement of maize for silage; superior starch characteristics; tailoring maize silage to system/animal needs. Data-driven approaches for high quality maize silage: grow maize for quality through detailed nutritional analysis and feed evaluation.
The Dairy UP Project P5 researches intensive dairy systems

Project Update (April 2024):

Publication:

P4 Lead/co-ordinator:

Sergio (Yani) Garcia

Sergio (Yani) Garcia

Professor of Dairy Science University of Sydney

Project Team:

  • Cameron Clark (CSU)
  • Diago Rotilli
  • Ian Lean (Scibus)
  • Neil Moss (Scibus)
  • Jonathan Ojeda
  • Rafiq Islam (USyd)

PhD Project:

P4 - Digitising forage options for intensive dairy systems