Plantain Potency and Practice Programme - DairyNZ

What the programme will achieve

Previous research (DairyNZ’s Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching and the PGG Wrightson Seeds Greener Pastures programme) showed that feeding animals Ecotain® plantain can reduce the concentration of nitrogen in urine. It also identified that Ecotain® plantain could further reduce nitrate leaching from the urine patch through improvements to nitrogen retention in soils.

The current research aims to confirm and quantify the impact of plantain on nitrogen loss, production, and profit at a farm scale for a range of soils and climates across New Zealand. It will also identify any positive or negative effects on milk and meat products, and animal health and welfare. Working with farmers, the project will develop tools and management strategies to support them with integrating plantain into their farm systems. The programme uses Ecotain® plantain due to its proven effectiveness for reducing nitrogen loss.

Why we're doing it

Many farmers are working to reduce nitrate leaching, with a number of regions facing regulations and targets. The Plantain programme is understanding how plantain works so that its full effect in different soils and climates can be modelled, and cultivars can be tested for their effectiveness for reducing nitrate leaching. This will mean farmers can have confidence that the plantain cultivar they choose is effective at reducing N-loss and they will be recognised for this appropriately in Overseer.

Where we're at on progress

Read more on the result of the trial so far.

Plantain effectiveness

Plantain effectiveness is being assessed by measuring nitrogen leaching and production from plantain pastures at farm system scale and comparing to ryegrass/clover pastures. Farmlet experiments are set up at Massey University and Lincoln University Research Dairy Farm.

At Massey University (2020-2024), the four treatments are comparing ryegrass/white clover pastures with mixed ryegrass/white clover/plantain swards with low, medium and high plantain content. Lincoln University (2021-2025) is comparing ryegrass/white clover to ryegrass/white clover/plantain mixed pastures sown with 3kg/ha (low) and 6kg/ha (high) plantain. At Lincoln, leaching is only measured under the ryegrass/white clover and low plantain treatments.

Massey University

Nitrate leaching was reduced on average by 26% in plantain pastures compared to ryegrass/clover on heavy soils. This has been measured over four years in pastures containing 18-47% Ecotain® plantain, equivalent to 12-30% of the cow’s diet.

There is a significant difference nitrate leaching between treatments in year one and in year two. See graph below.

Cumulative nitrate leaching measured in the Massey University farm systems trial

Cumulative nitrate leaching measured in the Massey University farm systems trial from ryegrass-white clover pastures (RGWC, green bars) and mixed swards (blue bars) containing three levels of plantain (%PL) during the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 drainage seasons. The tables above each graph show amount of plantain in the sward, amount of plantain in the diet, amount of white clover in the sward, amount of ryegrass in the sward and cumulative nitrate leaching (kg/ha/year). Error bars represent the standard error of the mean for nitrate leaching. Bars with different letters within the same year indicate a significant difference between treatments.

In year three, there was higher leaching in the high plantain treatment. This could be explained by a very high clover content and increased soil disturbance due to under-sowing with plantain and clover. For other treatments lower differences are likely because of lower plantain levels.

Year four was a very wet season, significantly impacting pasture utilisation, and the resulting nitrogen load was low. This is likely to have contributed to low overall nitrate leaching levels and small differences between treatments. The ryegrass treatment yielded more than the plantain treatments in that wet season, which may have resulted in greater nitrogen uptake. See table below.

A nitrogen input/output analysis is now underway to further understand the results.

	Herbage treatment
Production season	Ryegrass/ white clover	Low Plantain	Medium Plantain	High Plantain
2019/20 (Year 1) *	15.3	14.9	15.1	15.3
2020/21 (Year 2)	15.8	16.9	17.3	16.6
2021/22 (Year 3)	14.7	14.3	14.3	10.9**
2022/23 (Year 4)	14.3^a	12.5^b	12.9^b	12.5^b
2023/24 (Year 5)	16.6	15.7	15.6	15.9

Estimated herbage yield (t DM/ha/yr) for each herbage treatment at Massey farmlet trial: ryegrass and white clover sward (RGWC) Low, Medium, High plantain. See the graph above for plantain levels measured in each treatment. Superscripts a-d show significance difference (P< 0.05) between different herbage treatments.

*Data collection started in Sept 2019. Year 1 includes data for 9 months (Sept-May).

**Due to high plantain treatment being re-sown in autumn of 2021, no pasture yield data for high plantain treatment were collected in the winter of 2021.

Lincoln University

So far, two years of data (Dec 2021-Dec 2023) from Lincoln University has shown swards with 15-30% Ecotain® plantain had 17% lower total N leaching than ryegrass-white clover paddocks. See graph below for results.

Graph: Cumulative nitrate leaching at Lincoln University Research Dairy farmlet trial 1^st Dec 2021- 31^st Dec 2023

Pasture production, feed quality, milk production and profit

Pasture production: No change

So far, evidence from across the programme (field trials, farmlet trials and partner farms) shows that when added to a mixed sward with ryegrass and clover, plantain has maintained milk production, pasture growth and quality in most cases. Plantain mixed swards generally have higher herbage production in the summer/autumn period in summer dry environments. Some studies have also shown reduced winter production, particularly in pure plantain swards.

Feed quality: No change

Overall, there has been no change in feed quality by including plantain in grass-based pastures – measured across the partner farm network and in farmlet trials.

Milk production: No change

A meta-analysis of studies conducted prior to the plantain programme showed a slight milk production advantage to plantain compared with perennial ryegrass. So far, data from the current farmlet trials has shown no consistent difference in milk production from cows fed ryegrass/clover/plantain swards compared to ryegrass/clover.

Profit: Positive compared to alternative mitigations

Farm scale modelling for partner farms shows an average 2% profit reduction from including plantain in the system. This is mostly related to sowing costs. Alternative mitigations to reach the same reduction in nitrate leaching reduce profit by an average of 12%.

Understanding how plantain works

This project aims to better understand how plantain works to reduce nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions and quantify these reductions. To do this, we have glasshouse, lysimeter, and field trial experiments in different soil types and climates across New Zealand.

We know that the reduction in nitrogen loss from urinary nitrogen mechanisms (urine dilution and changes to animal partitioning) is consistent between soil types and climates, and these effects are modelled in OverseerFM.

Plantain can also reduce nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions through reduced drainage and changes to soil processes. We have discovered that soil type and climate influence the size of the effect of these soil mechanisms. We are still working to have a better understanding of this to allow nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions to be completely modelled in Overseer.

Greenhouse gas emissions

In aligned studies with the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC), nitrous oxide emissions were measured from the urine patch. In Waikato, emissions were measured from lysimeters using two different soil types (Allophanic and Gley), with different proportions of plantain. Emissions were also measured from three different plantain cultivars and ryegrass in plot trials in Southland and Waikato.

In the plot trials, results showed that the plantain cultivars reduced nitrous oxide emissions by between 39-63% in Southland and 3-15% in the Waikato, compared with perennial ryegrass. In the lysimeter trial, nitrous oxide emissions reduced with increasing plantain content in the Allophanic soil, but not the Gley soil. The variability in the reduction achieved has been seen in other trials, and further work is underway to understand this more.

The Plantain programme has recently conducted a metabolism stall experiment and measured methane emissions from cows grazing plantain mixed pastures compared to ryegrass/clover. We expect the results from this experiment to be ready to share in March 2025.

Plantain safety

The research is identifying risks or benefits to animals and products over time and developing management strategies for these. This is what we know, so far:

Milk from plantain-fed cows: No risk or impact

Milk is safe for human consumption. Presence of secondary metabolites found in milk from plantain pastures are linked to health benefits (anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral).
Has little to no negative impact on milk yield, milk protein, lactose, solids, minerals or vitamins.
A reduction in milk fat has been observed in several studies. This is likely due to reduced dietary fibre in plantain, which can make cows more susceptible to subacute ruminal acidosis.
Has no impact on processability of milk for products such as skim milk, cheese, cream, yoghurt and butter.
Levels of the beneficial Omega 3 fatty acid are higher in milk from plantain pastures when plantain levels in the diet are high. Plantain feeding can also reduce free fatty acid content of milk, which is a desirable milk quality effect.
The Fat Evaluation Index (FEI) may increase slightly under plantain feeding (effect across trials has been variable). It is unclear whether plantain causes any additional increase when combined with PKE feeding.

Meat from plantain-fed cows: Under investigation

Plantain (and other herbs) can take up minerals more efficiently than grass. This poses risk of presence of heavy metals in offal. For example, in New Zealand, the allowable amount of cadmium in offal for consumption is not exceeded. This is because offal from animals over two years old cannot enter the food chain. However, the risk will be quantified in our research.

Management considerations for animal health

Facial eczema: plantain pastures have lower facial eczema spore counts compared to perennial ryegrass pastures.
Metabolic issues: although we have not yet seen a consistent link between metabolic issues and plantain, farmers should be cautious with changing diet between pastures with and without plantain during calving due to differences in calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium.
Water intake: animals will consume less trough water when plantain intake increases due to the higher water content of plantain. This is likely to reduce intake of minerals or other medication supplied via inline water dispensers if these are used on farm.
Copper: plantain takes up more copper than perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures. The copper in plantain may be more bioavailable to the animal, increasing liver copper stores. Farmers should monitor liver copper concentrations with their vet and adapt their supplementation strategy if needed.
Bloat: cows grazing pastures with a high proportion of plantain can have an increased risk of bloat, particularly where clover intake is high. Plantain appears to delay the onset of bloat this has been observed to occur later (2-5 hours after fresh pasture allocation) than bloat seen on high-clover pastures (typically 0.5-2 hours after fresh allocation).

Farm systems adoptability

There are 19 programme research and partner farms around New Zealand, covering five different catchments, and more catchments will be added in the future. These farms play a critical role in giving other farmers the confidence to try plantain, helping to develop regionally relevant management practices, and keeping the science on track.

Partner farmers have been able to achieve up to 20% plantain across their farms.
A range of methods have been used to establish plantain. These include sowing as part of a new pasture mix, sowing as a pure sward with or without clover, broadcasting with fertiliser, or undersowing into existing swards with gaps.
Farmers who are achieving high amounts of plantain are using a combination of sowing plantain in new pastures and broadcasting the whole farm with fertiliser every 1-2 years.
An important focus for the partner farmers is to look at how successful the low-cost broadcasting method is for a range of paddock conditions and climates.

So far, this has resulted in methods for routine assessment of plantain content in pastures, extension, management guidelines, and quantifying the economic, environmental and social benefits of widespread adoption.

Plantain partner farms

Piako (Waikato)

Wim and Maria Makker, Iron Oaks – The Makkers have been incorporating plantain for the past four years with good success, mainly through broadcasting a third of the farm each year. The farm uses plantain as a tool to reduce nitrate leaching, provide a more reliable summer feed source, reduce ryegrass staggers, and be more profitable during spring.

Johan and Kylie van Ras, Wairongomai Valley Farms – The van Rases have been using plantain for three years as part of their plan to lower their N footprint. Plantain is established by broadcasting the seed in spring with fertiliser, and by including it in new pasture mixes (first by establishing the grasses, controlling weeds, then broadcasting plantain). The farm is trying to build and maintain plantain levels at 10-15%, currently 7-10%, so that cows have daily access to plantain in their diet.

Owl Farm – Owl Farm has been incorporating plantain since 2021. Plantain is established through new pastures and this year the farm also experimented with a pure plantain crop. The farm has also started broadcasting in targeted paddocks that are more open, but not due for full renewal. The farm is aiming to build and maintain 10-15%, currently 6%, plantain content across the whole farm.

Read more about plantain partner farm, Johan and Kylie van Ras (Te Puninga)

Rotorua Lake (Bay of Plenty)

Farmers in the Rotorua Lake catchment are required to achieve significant reductions in nitrogen loss to meet their nutrient discharge allowance allocated by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Partner farmers in the region are using plantain to help them meet these limits while staying profitable.

Steve and Paula Holdem, Holdem Farm – The Holdems have been using plantain for five years with great success. Predominantly, they broadcast plantain over the whole farm with fertiliser annually. Every paddock contains some level of plantain, achieving an average of 20% plantain content across the whole farm. The farm has also experimented with direct drilling plantain with an annual ryegrass in autumn to help with winter feed.

Richard and Amy Fowler, Chlorofield – The Fowlers have been incorporating plantain for two years with great success, mainly through broadcasting seed with fertiliser, achieving 22% across the farm. The farm's topography is predominantly rolling, and the establishment of plantain has been very successful on the hill faces. All paddocks contain plantain, with at least a third paddocks with 30% or more. The Fowler’s have also been lowering nitrogen fertiliser inputs over time. The Fowler’s also trialled use of a drone for spreading seed on steeper areas.

Doug and Tina Dibley, Fern View Farm – The Dibleys have been using plantain for two years with great success. Initially the plan was to broadcast one third of the dairy platform each year. However, after very successful establishment in the first year, and seeing the results on neighbouring farms, they now plan to broadcast the whole farm at lower rates (3kg/ha) every year. Almost one third of the farm currently has paddocks containing 30% or more plantain, with 19% across the whole farm.

Dave and Clare Beuth, DA and CM Beuth – The Beuths have used plantain for the past five years, predominantly established through broadcasting in autumn and including it in new pastures during renewal, achieving 12% across the farm. The Beuths are looking to try broadcasting in spring to increase levels of plantain across the farm and compare it to their autumn broadcasting results. The Beuths have had success with drilling plantain with clover into newly established ryegrass, after broadleaf weed control.

John Fenwick, Waerenga Farms – Waerenga Farms have used plantain in the past and are now actively re-introducing it to the farm by broadcasting seed over a proportion of the farm with fertiliser each year. There is currently 7% across the farm after one year of broadcasting. Having already achieved their 2032 nutrient target, the farm sees opportunities to use plantain to provide flexibility for other profitable options on farm.

Read more about plantain partner farm, Steve and Paula Holdem (Rotorua)

Tararua (Manawatu)

Aaron and Jo Passey, Te Angi Farm – The Passeys have had good success with incorporating plantain into their farm system by a mixture of sowing it as pure swards, mixed pastures, and broadcasting onto existing pastures, currently achieving 16% across the farm. They will continue to trial methods of weed control, and broadcast plantain seed at lower rates in line with learnings from other partner farms. They will continue to trial methods of weed control, and broadcast plantain seed at lower rates in line with learnings from other partner farms.

Neil and Veronica Filer, NAF Business – The Filers have been using plantain for six years. A dedicated 13 ha block of the farm was sown in pure swards, making up 16% of the whole farm. Additionally, Neil has been broadcasting plantain seed with spring fertiliser, making a total of 20% plantain across the whole farm.

Ben and Nicky Allomes, Hopelands Dairies – The Allomes’ have been pioneers in the use of plantain in the Tararua district, introducing it into their farm system in 2017. They have previously established pure plantain, or plantain and clover crops as part of a cropping rotation after fodder beet or turnips. After 18 months, plantain crops are drilled with permanent pastures, becoming mixed swards. Due to weed challenges, Ben and Nicky are re-focusing on establishing plantain in mixed swards.

Murray and Lynda Holdaway, Generation Farms – The Holdaways have been using plantain for six years by including it in new pastures, under-sowing it into existing pastures, and broadcasting it at variable seed rates, holding a total of 10-15% average plantain across the whole farm.

Thomas and Jennifer Read, Readlands Farm – The Reads have been including plantain in a mixed sward during re-grassing after turnip crops for several years. They are now also adding plantain in new pastures in spring after forage oats, and broadcasting plantain seed into damaged paddocks. Thomas and Jennifer believe plantain is a viable N-loss mitigation tool in a productive pasture system.

Read more about plantain partner farm, Aaron and Jo Passey (Dannevirke)

Hinds (Mid-Canterbury)

Grant Early, Nick and Tina Giera, Ruapuna Farms – The Earlys have been using plantain for several years by incorporating it into mixed swards after a winter fodder crop rotation or during pasture renewal. The farm also broadcasts plantain seed and has been experimenting with different rates. Recently, the whole farm was broadcasted at a lower rate with liquid nitrogen fertiliser with good success. The farm has also seen successful establishment of plantain when drilled into damaged or pugged areas. There is currently 9% across the farm.

Athol and Jane New, Mayview Farm – The News have been using plantain on farm for four years. They have been incorporating it into mixed swards during pasture renewal, which is established with direct drilling. This is complemented by broadcasting the whole farm each year at a lower rate with fertiliser which has been successful to maintain plantain levels (currently at 9%). Athol and Jane use plantain as one of several mitigations to strive for environmental excellence.

Andy and Tricia MacFarlane, Brad and Viana Fallaver, Pencarrow Farm – The farm has had several years of experience in sowing plantain as part of their re-grassing regime, where they also use some fescue. They have also tried broadcasting plantain at different rates, as well as experimented with different weed controls. Currently there is 13% plantain across the farm.

Oteramika (Southland)

Glenden Farm and Richburn Farm, Fortuna Group – These farms have predominantly focused on incorporating plantain through re-grassing for the last 4-5 years by including in all new pasture mixes, with good success even at lower rates. This year the farms have experimented with increased rates of plantain seed, achieving higher levels in those paddocks. There are some challenges with establishment on wetter areas of the farms.

Tim and Justine McRae, RaeMac Dairying –The McRaes have been successfully establishing plantain in new pastures for 4-5 years after crop in autumn, or older pasture in spring. The farm has had excellent success to date through this method, even at very low rates. Currently there is 7% plantain across the farm. The McRae’s tried broadcasting with plantain seed with fertiliser for the first time in spring 2023 with mixed success. Tim believes that good seed bed preparation is important for establishment and uses a roller drill which has worked well. The McRae’s are passionate about being pro-active in doing their bit for the environment and are rapidly increasing the area on farm containing plantain.

Southern Dairy Hub – Started using plantain for the first time in spring 2022 by including it in their new pasture mixes. Plantain has been sown as part of new mixed swards in autumn and spring, and by using different cultivation practices. The farm has had excellent success to date with high plantain levels established (up to 60%) and has achieved 10% across the farm area relatively quickly. The farm also trialled broadcasting with fertiliser for the first time in spring 2023, with results expected to be seen later in the year.

Plantain Cultivar Evaluation System

The programme is developing an Evaluation System to provide farmers and regulators with confidence in plantain cultivars recognised as being environmentally effective. There were four evaluation system plot trials across the country established in spring 2022, and with measurements taken to May 2024.

Plantain cultivar evaluation system for the plantain programme research

Nutritive value and metabolites were regularly measured for nine commercial plantain cultivars as well as a number of breeding lines. Three cultivars were also compared to ryegrass in a metabolism stall trial, where all feed eaten and urine, faeces, and milk were measured and analysed. Methane emissions were also measured in this trial. Check back here for future result updates.

Programme lead

Kate Fransen

Kate’s focus is on plantain research and water quality. She is a Senior Project Manager at DairyNZ and leads the Plantain Potency & Practice Programme. Kate comes from a farming background and is passionate about working with scientists and farmers to develop systems that work to meet environmental and profit outcomes.

Research team

Funding and delivery partners

The SFFF Plantain programme is a seven-year Aotearoa New Zealand-wide collaborative research and development initiative. The aim is to substantially reduce nitrogen lost to freshwater and in greenhouse gases from the pasture-based food exporting sectors by using plantain (Ecotain®).

The funding partners are the Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand dairy farmers through DairyNZ, PGW Seeds Ltd and Fonterra. They are supported by additional delivery partners: Lincoln University, Massey University, Lincoln Agritech Ltd, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research and Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research.

Funding, timeframe and progress

Project timeframe: March 2021 – February 2028
Project partners: DairyNZ, MPI, PGG Wrightson Seeds, Fonterra
Industry funding: $13.27 million
Government funding: $8.98 million
Quarterly reports on the programme's progress can be found on the MPI website

Plantain Potency and Practice