NZ Herald
  • Home

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The vision is clear

"Porridge" can also help water quality

Other
6 Nov, 2020 02:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Oats field. Image / Supplied.

Oats field. Image / Supplied.

Not for sale

Oats - base of many a breakfast dish - also reduces nitrate leaching on farms.

A crop used in cooking porridge for Kiwi breakfast tables may also have a key environmental part to play on the country's farming pastures.

The humble oat - which many turn into the warm breakfast dish from its processed forms of oatmeal or rolled oats - has been shown to be effective in reducing nitrate leaching.

A recently completed six-year research programme conducted on research sites and farms in Canterbury and Waikato revealed oats - also widely used for stock feed - are one of a number of crop options effective in reducing nitrogen leaching by as much as 30 per cent.

Cows eating Fodder Beet. Image / Supplied.
Cows eating Fodder Beet. Image / Supplied.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

DairyNZ's principal scientist, farm systems, Dr Ina Pinxterhuis, says the findings are "very significant" and may provide a pathway for the future as New Zealand farming continues to look for solutions to nitrogen leaching issues posed by grazing animals.

The DairyNZ-led Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching (FRNL) programme included the trialling of a number of catch crop options like oats as well as low-protein feed-crops such as fodder beet and pasture species like plantain and Italian ryegrass.

The research found oats reduce leaching when planted early in the winter season through an efficient uptake of water and nitrogen; other options trialled resulted resulted in less nitrogen consumed and excreted by animals or a lower nitrogen concentration in the animals' urine.

Pinxterhuis says most of the farmers involved in the programme achieved reductions in nitrogen leaching, some as high as 30 per cent.

Fodder Beat. Image / Supplied.
Fodder Beat. Image / Supplied.

But she says: "I don't think there is ever a silver bullet but we expect, in the future, more farmers will adopt the practices we trialled as they look to improve environmental outcomes on their land."

Already this is happening with a different project involving another 30 farmers in the Hinds and Selwyn catchments in Canterbury, projects in Aparima in Southland and in the Tararua catchment in Whanganui-Manawatu, where a group of farmers are experimenting with the use of plantain.

Pinxterhuis says numerous farmer meetings have been held around the country to discuss the findings and are expected to continue as the research progresses.
"All of the options require farmers to learn how they work," she says. "Every farm is different and it is up to the farmers to assess which options may be useful; it also comes down to what their preference is.

Ina Pinxterhuis. Image / Supplied.
Ina Pinxterhuis. Image / Supplied.

"When we started, the aim was to look at ways of reducing nitrogen leaching by 20 per cent. We showed that this can be achieved with the various options investigated."
"Planting low-protein feed crops, such as fodder beet and pasture species like plantain and Italian ryegrass, result in less or diluted nitrogen excretion by animals and more nitrogen uptake from the soil," she says. "Planting catch crops like oats helped use up residual soil nitrogen through plant growth."

Pinxterhuis says the programme also looked at the implications of the use of forage crops on other farm management practices such as fertiliser input and pasture utilisation. Results show their use had no negative impact on feed supply or farm profits.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The primary source of nitrogen leaching in grazed pastures is through animal urine patches. Forage crops can reduce this by reducing the amount of nitrogen in the diet and therefore its concentration and amount in urine – or by increasing plant nitrogen uptake from the soil before it drains away. That can be achieved either by greater growth rates in the cool-high drainage season or by deeper root systems.

Image / Supplied.
Image / Supplied.

The FRNL programme was DairyNZ-led in collaboration with the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), AgResearch, Plant and Food Research, Lincoln University, the Foundation for Arable Research and Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research.

Meanwhile the FRNL catch crops trial at DairyNZ's Scott Farm in Waikato – the farm used by DairyNZ for research on effective dairy farming systems – found that oats reduce nitrogen in the soil (at depths of 30 to 90cm) by up to 47 per cent when compared to Italian ryegrass.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The vision is clear

The vision is clear

Bringing new life to the Pelorus

11 Aug 12:00 PM
The vision is clear

The rugby team that got dirty

31 Jul 12:00 PM
The vision is clear

Bringing back a once thriving lake

13 Jul 12:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The vision is clear

Bringing new life to the Pelorus

Bringing new life to the Pelorus

11 Aug 12:00 PM

400 farmers, a council & hi-tech analysis are aiming to improve catchment water quality.

The rugby team that got dirty

The rugby team that got dirty

31 Jul 12:00 PM
Bringing back a once thriving lake

Bringing back a once thriving lake

13 Jul 12:00 PM
"Dirty hands" goes full circle

"Dirty hands" goes full circle

05 Jul 04:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP