The effect of the height of defoliation on two clones of perennial ryegrass

Abstract
SUMMARY: A significant interaction between genotype and cutting height was found in an experiment conducted to investigate regrowth from cutting heights of 2 cm and 5 cm above ground level in two contrasting genotypes with fast and slow rates of leaf appearance. There was, however, no evidence that production of herbage above the initial cutting height was increased by raising the height of cutting. This observation, and the difference between the genotypes, can be explained not only in terms of differences in the proportion of total above-ground parts harvested, but also in the scale of losses of leaf tissue by death.