Future Agricultural Use Research Articles

Long-term effects of improvement methods on Molinia caerulea dominant rough grazing on wet hill land. 2. Mineral composition of herbage and soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics

SummaryThe effects of controlled grazing, application of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg and the introduction of grasses and white clover, with and without cultivations, on Molinia caerulea dominant rough hill grazing were studied over 19 years in mid-Wales. Nutrient concentration in, and uptake by, the herbage and changes in soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics were monitored periodically. Concentrations and uptake of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Na were highest on the reseeded pastures. Nutrient balance sheets showed that the nutrients applied were most efficiently utilized on reseeded swards. They also highlighted the considerable losses of applied Ca and Mg that occurred.Implications of the results are discussed in relation to both future agricultural use of such areas in the hills and the effects on the environment.

Present and future agricultural use of ground‐water in a portion of the Southwest

For more than a generation, farmers in the Southwest have been recovering ground‐water to apply them to their lands. Too seldom has there been any irrigation‐planning carried on with the aid of qualified technicians, and the result in many cases has been that the ground‐water has been mined and exploited with a narrow and injudicious objective in view.