Inadequate nutrition limits small-scale livestock production by smallholder farmers in South Africa but can be addressed by the introduction of woody fodder species. Cutting woody plants to harvest fodder affects their productivity and thus it is necessary to determine the optimum cutting height. Cutting affects the productivity and survival of woody plants because it alters concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates, which are used to support their recovery. Since pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) is not widely grown in South Africa and is not managed as a pruned hedgerow, there was a need to investigate the effect of cutting height under local conditions, especially in areas that experience frost. The trial was established in November 2016, ran over two growing seasons (2016/2017 and 2017/2018) and concluded in August 2018. The treatments comprised three silvopastoral systems with Panicum maximum planted between pigeon pea hedgerows that were cut at 60 cm and 90 cm above the ground, or left uncut and sole P. maximum. Over the two year period, the pigeon pea plants cut at 90 cm above ground produced significantly more leaf, twig and total biomass than the plants cut at 60 cm. Cutting height also had a significant effect on the percentage twig, with pigeon pea plants cut at 90 cm having significantly higher percentage twig than those cut at 60 cm (P < 0.05). There was a significant effect of cutting height on stem sugar concentration and sugar: starch ratio but not for starch and total non-structural carbohydrate concentration (P > 0.05). In July 2018 there were a number of days with temperatures below 0 °C. Prior to this no mortalities had been observed, but the frost events resulted in die-off. The mortality rates were determined in August 2018 when it was clear which of the shrubs had clearly died. The shrub mortality rates were higher for pruned relative to unpruned shrubs, but the effect was not significant (P > 0.05). It was concluded that the choice of cutting height is important for maximising browse production. Future research should consider the effect of pruning on non-structural carbohydrate concentration and total pool in the roots to better understand the reasons for reduced production and shrub mortalities.

营养不足限制了南非小农户的小规模畜牧生产，但可以通过引入木本饲料品种来解决。切割木本植物以收获饲料会影响其生产力，因此有必要确定最佳的切割高度。砍伐会影响木本植物的生产力和存活率，因为它会改变非结构性碳水化合物的浓度，从而有助于其恢复。自木豆（Cajanus cajan（L.）Millsp。）在南非没有广泛种植，也没有作为修剪过的树篱来管理，因此有必要研究在当地条件下，特别是在遭受霜冻的地区，采伐高度的影响。该试验于2016年11月成立，历经两个生长季节（2016/2017和2017/2018），并于2018年8月结束。治疗方法包括三个农牧系统，在60厘米和90厘米处切开的豌豆树篱之间种植了最大的Panicum。距离地面1厘米，或未割破且唯一的P.最大。在两年的时间内，比在60厘米处切割的木豆豌豆植物在离地面90厘米处切割产生的叶片，细枝和总生物量明显增加。割高度对细枝的百分率也有显着影响，在90厘米处切出的木豆豌豆的细枝百分比明显高于在60厘米处切出的木豆（P  <0.05）。cutting割高度对茎糖浓度和糖：淀粉比有显着影响，但对淀粉和总非结构性碳水化合物浓度却没有影响（P > 0.05）。在2018年7月，有许多天温度低于0°C。在此之前，没有观察到任何死亡，但霜冻事件导致死亡。死亡率是在2018年8月确定的，当时很明显哪些灌木已经死亡。与未修剪的灌木相比，修剪后的灌木死亡率更高，但效果不显着（P  > 0.05）。得出的结论是，选择切割高度对于最大程度地提高浏览量至关重要。未来的研究应考虑修剪对根部非结构性碳水化合物浓度和总库的影响，以更好地了解产量减少和灌木死亡率的原因。