Low-input Grassland Research Articles

Production in peatlands: Comparing ecosystem services of different land use options following conventional farming

Majority of Dutch peatlands are drained and used intensively as grasslands for dairy farming. This delivers high productivity but causes severe damage to ecosystem services supply. Peatland rewetting is the best way to reverse the damage, but high water levels do not fit with intensive dairy production. Paludiculture, defined as crop production under wet conditions, provides viable land use alternatives. However, performance of paludiculture is rarely compared to drainage-based agriculture. Here, we compared the performances of six land use options on peatland following a gradient of low, medium, and high water levels, including conventional and organic drainage-based dairy farming, low-input grasslands for grazing and mowing, and high-input paludiculture with reed and Sphagnum cultivation. For each land use option, we conducted environmental system analysis on model farm system defined by a literature based inventory analysis. The analysis used five ecosystem services as indicators of environmental impacts with a functional unit of 1-ha peat soil. Ecosystem services included biomass provisioning, climate, water, and nutrient regulation, and maintenance of habitat. Results showed that drainage-based dairy farming systems support high provisioning services but low regulation and maintenance services. Organic farming provides higher climate and nutrient regulation services than its conventional counterpart, but limited overall improvement due to the persistent drainage. Low-intensity grassland and paludiculture systems have high regulation and maintenance services value, but do not supply biomass provisioning comparable to the drainage-based systems. Without capitalizing the co-benefits of regulation and maintenance services, and accounting for the societal costs from ecosystem disservices including greenhouse gas emission and nitrogen pollution, it is not likely that the farmers will be incentivized to change the current farming system towards the wetter alternatives. Sustainable use of peatlands urges fundamental changes in land and water management along with the financial and policy support required.

Long-term effects of extensive grazing on pasture productivity

Context In grazed grassland, the per area output of animal-source products usually declines with decreasing stocking rates because of lower herbage utilisation efficiency. Consequently, nutrient export is larger with increased stocking intensity, which should decrease the productivity in the long term. However, little information is available on long-term productivity of extensive grasslands under varied stocking intensities receiving no input. Aims The effect of stocking intensity was investigated in a long-term grazing trial over 16 years of production. We hypothesised that, despite minimal nutrient export under grazing, no reduction in productivity occurs over long-term periods, but expected an interaction between stocking intensity and year. Method The net pasture productivity was determined in terms of animal performance assessed from Fleckvieh cows grazing in a randomised block design with three replicates in three different stocking intensities (moderate, lenient, and very lenient, corresponding to stocking rates of 1.1, 0.7, and 0.5 livestock unit/ha.year respectively), recorded from 2005 to 2020. Metabolisable energy in GJ/ha.year (MEtotal) provided by the pasture and the livestock unit grazing days/ha.year (LUGD, 1LU = 500 kg) were calculated on the basis of liveweight measurements. Key results The interaction of year and treatment significantly affected LUGD (F = 16.85, d.f. = 30, P < 0.0001) and MEtotal (F = 12.81, d.f. = 30, P < 0.0001) and indicated a cyclic trajectory with increases and decreases in performance over the study years. Overall, the moderate stocking intensity led to and maintained significantly higher performance than did very lenient grazing of up to 60% and 55% in LUGD and MEtotal respectively. However, structural equation modelling indicated a negative temporal trend irrespective of stocking intensity. Conclusions On the basis of existing data of herbage quality and botanical composition from the same experiment, this trend was likely to be a result of nutrient redistribution within pastures that probably changed the botanical composition and grass sward productivity in conjunction with drier years towards the end of this study period. Implications This study showed that productivity in low-input grassland under continuous grazing declines over time irrespective of stocking intensity. Productivity decline in all treatments implies tradeoffs for farmers grazing at lower stocking intensities.

Grassland legacy effects on yield of a follow-on crop in rotation strongly influenced by legume proportion and moderately by drought

We investigated the degree to which plant species diversity, drought and fertiliser level in a grassland ley can affect performance of a follow-on crop in a rotation. Grassland species and functional group diversity (grasses, legumes and herbs) were manipulated from monocultures to six-species mixtures in the grassland ley phase. A simulated two-month summer drought treatment was compared to a ‘rainfed’ control. Plots received 150 kg ha−1 yr−1 of nitrogen (N) fertiliser; additional replicates of L. perenne monoculture received 300 kg ha−1 yr−1 of N fertiliser. After two years, grassland communities were terminated, and each plot reseeded with an Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) model crop; its yield indicated the relative legacy effect of the preceding treatments (plant diversity, drought, N input). There was a modest but constant negative effect of drought on dry matter (−0.36 ± 0.091 t ha−1) and nitrogen yield (DMY and NY respectively) of the subsequent crop of L. multiflorum, across all plant communities. There were strong differences among the identity effects of the six former grassland species on DMY and NY of L. multiflorum. Legume species had the strongest effects on DMY of L. multiflorum (6.09 t ha−1 for the former T. pratense monoculture and 6.54 t ha−1 for T. repens). The lowest crop yield was from the former low-diversity high-input replicates (4.16 t ha−1 for former L. perenne monoculture with 300 kg ha−1 yr−1). There was no evidence that interspecific interactions in the grassland phase affected yield of the follow-on crop. Thus, the legacy effect of grassland mixtures was estimated by the identities and proportions of the species sown in the mixture. Similar patterns were obtained for NY. High-diversity, low-input grassland yielded more DMY and NY than low-diversity, high-input grassland (across both ley and follow-on crop phases). However, a legume proportion in the grassland ley of at least 33% is required to achieve high forage and crop performance in a grassland-crop rotation.

Mid- and long-term responses of land snail communities to the intensification of mountain hay meadows management

BackgroundSpecies-rich semi-natural grasslands are impacted by the severe land-use changes that are affecting mountain regions, compromising their high biodiversity value. In particular, sprinkler irrigation and increased fertilisation stimulate vegetation growth, modifying and homogenising habitat conditions for ground-dwelling invertebrates. Among them, land snails have been largely understudied despite their commonness and vulnerability to small-scale habitat alteration. This study investigated the mid- and long-term responses of land snail communities to management intensification of montane and subalpine hay meadows. Mid-term effects were studied using a randomised block design experiment, mimicking an intensification gradient with different levels of irrigation and fertilisation applied during 5 years. Long-term effects were examined relying on an observational approach that consisted in comparing snail communities in meadows managed intensively for > 20 years with those from the 5-year experimental module.ResultsWe show that management intensification initially boosts snail densities, but erodes species richness by − 35% in intensively-managed meadows in the long term. Contrary to our expectations, drought-tolerant (xerophilous) snails benefitted from grassland intensification, whereas mesophilous species accounted for most species losses due to intensification in the long run, indicating that the latter may be especially sensitive to the hostile microclimate conditions abruptly prevailing in a meadow after mowing. Soil pH was also a principal determinant of land snail occurrence, with almost no specimen recorded in acidic meadows (pH < 5.5), while plant diversity favoured overall snail abundance.ConclusionsDespite the fact that xerophilous snails appear tolerant to management intensification, we found that several drought-sensitive species are lost in the long term. We conclude that the preservation of species-rich land snail communities in mountain hay meadows requires the conservation and restoration of low-input grasslands on basic soils for preventing further species losses of gastropod fauna.

Drought tolerance is determined by species identity and functional group diversity rather than by species diversity within multi-species swards

Abstract Low-input grasslands depend on the presence of grasses and legumes for the provision of nitrogen and a sufficient amount and quality of herbage for livestock. Increasing variability in the amount and distribution of rainfall, associated with climate change, is a major factor affecting production from permanent grassland and particularly grass-clover swards. Previous work has shown that introduction of deep-rooting dicotyledonous forbs into grass-legume mixtures increases functional trait diversity (FTD), which facilitates the resistance and resilience of grassland to drought. It also increases species diversity and functional group diversity (FGD). However, the role of species diversity at a given level of FGD and associated FTD for the resistance and resilience of low-input grassland towards drought remains unclear. This knowledge is required to design forage mixtures adapted to drier climatic conditions. We conducted a drought-stress experiment with 16 different sown sward types, grown in cylindrical mesocosms, combining three levels of species diversity (one, three, five) and three levels of FGD (one, two, three) all being associated with FTD in terms of phenology, rooting depth and nitrogen fixation to determine whether maximum levels of species diversity or FGD promote adaptation to drought. The study was conducted over three drought-stress cycles in an open-sided greenhouse where the climate followed ambient natural conditions. Over the duration of 685 days, we found no clear species diversity effect but a distinct species identity effect on biomass production and agronomic water use efficiency. A positive species identity effect depended largely on white clover presence and on the FGD within mixtures. The best performing mixtures for resistance and resilience combined FGD and FTD in a complementary way, irrespective of whether the swards contained three or five species, as FGD and FTD were already maximized within the best-performing three-species swards. Increasing complementarity of traits by species grown in carefully designed mixtures is one measure to achieve diversity effects and facilitate future sustainable grassland production. We propose to exploit the benefits of species identity and functional group diversity in designing future mixtures to cope with drought.

Exploitation and Management of Low Input Grassland Systems

By this research the authors aimed to analyse the evolution and management of low-input grassland from a specific area in the Apuseni Mountains, in order to define what can be the result of a low input grassland system on the botanical composition of the grasslands and on the income of the farmers. In addition a full description of Flanders area with special attention to its grassland management is given, such that one can make a comparation between those two different cultures: the Province of East Flanders, Belgium and the area of Apuseni Mountains, Cluj County, Romania. Flanders (Belgium) and the area of Cluj County, Apuseni Mountains (Romania), are completely different not only in terms of their people with their own life-styles and culture, but also in terms of uses and management of arable land and grasslands.

English

Legumes (Fabaceae) are plants with the distinct ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, the atmospheric nitrogen fixation by legumes is known as biological nitrogen fixation. Biological nitrogen fixation is the process whereby atmospheric nitrogen is reduced to ammonia in the presence of the enzyme nitrogenase. Nitrogen fixation in legumes starts with the formation of nodules. Inside the nodules, nitrogen fixation done by the bacteria (Rhizobia), and the ammonia (NH3) produced is absorbed by plant. The symbiotic relationship between a bacterium and a plant makes legumes special plants, which offer benefits when included in farming systems. These benefits are ecosystem, economic and environmental benefits. Inclusion of forage legumes in the form of intercropping in low-input grassland mixtures improves forage quantity, quality and soil fertility trough addition of nitrogen (N) from N2-fixation. Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice, which involves growing two or more crops in proximity. Legumes also improve the nutritive value of the low quality native pastures grown with them and are important component of farming system since they have high nutritive value and able to rehabilitate nutrient depleted soil. There are various factors affecting legume growth and development and these factors need to be taken into account when planning to grow legumes. These factors include pedoclimatic factors especially those associated with the soil acid complex. These factors are known as physical, chemical, biological and environmental factors. The improvement of forage quantity and quality through forage legume inclusion is crucial for improved animal performance, which is a goal of all livestock farmers. The inclusion of forage legumes in low-input grassland mixtures is vital to improve biomass production, forage quality and ultimately soil fertility. The improvement of forage quantity and quality is crucial for improved animal performance, which is a goal of every livestock farmer. Forage legumes have the potential to improve the diets of ruminants because they increase the crude protein (CP) concentration of the herbage mixture relative to that of grass monocultures. &nbsp; Key words: Legumes, biological nitrogen fixation, forage quality, forage quantity.

Effect of soil compaction and N fertilization on soil pore characteristics and physical quality of sandy loam soil under red clover/grass sward

During the 20th century grassland production systems were intensified with higher rates of nitrogen usage and increasing heavy vehicular activity. This tendency is reflected in the higher soil degradation risk. However, in recent years European agri-environmental policies have promoted low-input grassland management practices. These changes in fertilization intensity may interact with the effects of machine traffic in affecting soil physical properties. The objective of this study, was to investigate the influence of soil compaction caused by tractor traffic and N fertilization levels on a soil pore system under a clover/grass mixture during the period from 2010 to 2012. This experiment was established in a split-plot design with fertilization as a main plot and soil compaction as a subplot. The N fertilizer treatments used were: untreated control (N0), 80kg Nha−1 (N80) and 160kg Nha−1 (N160). Four compaction treatments were applied using the following number of tractor passes: untreated control (P0), two passes (P2), four passes (P4) and six passes (P6). Undisturbed soil samples were collected in 2010–2012 in order to determine the water retention parameters and morphometric characterization of soil pores. The soil water characteristic curve was determined using pressure plates. The soil macropore system was also characterized using image analysis on the sections of soil samples hardened with polyester resin.The mineral fertilization did not significantly affect any physical parameters of soil at the trial. The intensive wheeling resulted in a higher value of bulk density and penetration resistance and lower values of total porosity. The soil compaction has distinctly influenced the soil water retention characteristics in the high matric potential range, which corresponds mainly with large pores (transmission pores and fissures) and storage pores. The result of changes in soil porosity was to increase the plant available water capacity. On the other hand, the relative field capacity indicated that in compacted soil under grassland plants, the biological activity was limited by insufficient soil aeration. This conclusion is in agreement with the results in plant production, which showed decrease in root and above ground biomass as the result of compaction.

Modelling the spatial distribution of species-rich farmland to identify priority areas for conservation actions

Spatial targeting of conservation actions is indispensable to protect and maintain farmland biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. To implement region-specific conservation actions, information on the spatial distribution of farmland biodiversity and its major drivers is a prerequisite. Here, we model the spatial distribution of species-rich farmland (defined by a minimum number of indicator plant species) and landscape elements (e.g. hedgerows, ditches, patches of woodland or scrub) at the national level by combining field-based survey data from a biological monitoring programme with agri-environmental variables. Adopting factor analysis and mixed effect models, we show that the percentage cover of species-rich farmland and landscape elements can be predicted by a combination of factors describing the intensity of arable farming, topography, low-input grassland farming, landscape structure and the intensity of livestock farming. Our results demonstrate that the relative importance of these factors differed between species-rich farmland and landscape elements. The share of species-rich farmland was highest in upland and structurally complex grassland-dominated regions where extensive livestock production is practised; whereas landscape elements were most likely to occur within flat regions where edge density tends to be high.In a policy context, our generated maps contribute to identifying priority regions for conservation actions. It is proposed that in regions with high coverage of species-rich farmland priority should be given to sustaining low-input grassland farming by keeping farmers in business and preventing farmland abandonment. We conclude that this modelling approach could be adapted for application in other European countries to facilitate spatial targeting of conservation actions.

Research Concerning the Structure and Functioning of Low-Input Grassland Systems

The organic fertilizers’ application and the traditional use for long periods of time have influenced the rich plant diversity in Apuseni Mountains, Romania. The objective of this study was to identify the effect of manure’s application upon the plant diversity and productivity of Festuca rubra L. –Agrostis capillaris L. grasslands. The experimental field evaluated four variants (V1: control, V2: 10 t ha-1 manure, V3: 20 t ha-1 manure, V4: 30 t ha-1 manure). After ten years, important changes at the sward level were observed. The control’s phytocenosis is naturally represented by Festuca rubra L. - Agrostis capillaris L. grassland type. Then, following the application of organic fertilizers, Trisetum flavescens L. - Agrostis capillaris L. appeared. The large quantities of organic fertilizers produced a considerable limitation on plant diversity. The applied treatments do not produce any important improvement of the grassland types’ agronomic value. Taking account the influence of organic fertilizers upon the DM yield, plant diversity and agronomic value, it is considered that the treatment with 10 t ha -1 manure annually applied produces optimum changes and might be taken into consideration for the low-input systems in Apuseni Mountains

Risk of phosphorus leaching from low input grassland areas

Concentrations of dissolved reactive phosphorus (C DRP) and particle-bound phosphorus (C PP) were investigated in soil columns taken from different parts of three selected agricultural fields. The columns (mini-lysimeters 20 cm in diameter, 20 cm high) were exposed to on average 64 ± 6 mm of simulated rainfall. Total phosphorus concentrations (C TP) in water percolating from the lysimeters were similar to the C TP observed in drainage water leaving the fields, but the C DRP/C TP ratio was significantly ( p < 0.001) higher in the percolate. The high C DRP (up to 0.4 mg L − 1 ) measured in the percolate may have partly derived from decomposition of accumulated senescing vegetation and litter material, since C DRP in percolating water was related to total organic carbon concentration (TOC) in the shallow topsoil (0–5 cm) and to phosphorus concentration in soil extract of ammonium lactate (P-AL) from the same soil layer. Another easily identified factor clearly related to C DRP in percolate from the lysimeters was the degree of phosphorus saturation (DPS) in the same soil P-AL extract. The factors giving best prediction of C PP and leaching were the amount of percolate passing through the soil columns and total phosphorus concentration in the topsoil determined after oxidation with nitric acid (TP-HNO 3). One field under grass ley, including the slope and depression close to the field outlet, comprised 24% of total field area. In the other two fields these areas (11 and 17% of total area respectively) were under long-term permanent green fallow as an internal buffer zone (IBZ). The lysimeter studies indicated that these areas had a higher risk of DRP losses than the rest of the fields. In addition, the P content of the particles in water from the depression was unusually high. Aggregate stability, measured indirectly as readily dispersible clay and expressed as nephelometric turbidity units (NTU), was significantly stronger at the lowest point of one IBZ (27–35 NTU) than in stubbled parts of the same field (62 NTU), and the turbidity of water percolating through the topsoil was lower (5–27 NTU).

Agricultural and biofuel implications of a species diversity experiment with native perennial grassland plants

Two primary approaches to perennial biofuel crop production studied so far are fertilized grass monocultures and low-input high-diversity grasslands. While high-yielding perennial grass varieties are being developed in fertilized monocultures, breeding for yield in low-input high-diversity systems would be difficult. Before initiating breeding for low-input systems, it is therefore important to know the minimum number of functional groups and species required for maximum biomass harvest from low-input grasslands. We controlled the number of perennial grassland species in 168 plots in Minnesota, USA. Species were selected at random from a pool of 18, and 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 were planted in each plot. Aboveground biomass was measured annually, and the plots were burned each spring. We found a strongly positive log-linear relationship between average annual aboveground biomass and planted species number, but a large proportion of plot-to-plot variability remained unexplained. We performed a conditional analysis of the aboveground biomass data to determine whether considering species identity would reduce the minimum number of species necessary in order to achieve yields similar to the highest diversity treatments. A model that accounted for the presence of legumes in general, and for the presence of the legume species Lupinus perennis in particular, showed no increase in biomass yield with increased species number. Over 11 years, average yields of L. perennis/C 4 grass bicultures were similar to those of 16-species (maximum diversity) plots, and both were >200% greater than the average of monocultures. Thus, under low-input conditions, the choice of the appropriate few perennial plant species for each location might result in systems with biomass yields similar to those from high-diversity systems. Because breeding biofuel crops in diverse mixtures would introduce complexity that is unwarranted in terms of maximum biomass yield, the first biofuel crop breeding programs for low-input systems are likely to accelerate progress by focusing on grass–legume bicultures.

Biodiversity for multifunctional grasslands: equal productivity in high-diversity low-input and low-diversity high-input systems

Abstract. Modern grassland management seeks to provide many ecosystem services and experimental studies in resource-poor grasslands have shown a positive relationship between plant species richness and a variety of ecosystem functions. Thus, increasing species richness might help to enhance multifunctionality in managed grasslands if the relationship between species richness and ecosystem functioning is equally valid in high-input grassland systems. We tested the relative effects of low-input to high-input management intensities and low to high plant species richness. Using a combination of mowing frequencies (1, 2 or 4 cuts per season) and fertilisation levels (0, 100 and 200 kg N ha−1 a−1), we studied the productivity of 78 experimental grassland communities of increasing plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 species with 1 to 4 functional groups) in two successive years. Our results showed that in both years higher diversity was more effective in increasing productivity than higher management intensity: the 16-species mixtures had a surplus of 449 g m−2 y−1 in 2006 and 492 g m−2 y−1 in 2007 over the monoculture yields whereas the high-input management resulted in only 315 g m−2 y−1 higher productivity in 2006 and 440 g m−2 y−1 in 2007 than the low-input management. In addition, high-diversity low-input grassland communities had similar productivity as low-diversity high-input communities. The slopes of the biodiversity – productivity relationships significantly increased with increasing levels of management intensity in both years. We conclude that the biological mechanisms leading to enhanced biomass production in diverse grassland communities are as effective for productivity as a combination of several agricultural measures. Our results demonstrate that high-diversity low-input grassland communities provide not only a high diversity of plants and other organisms, but also ensure high forage yields, thus granting the basis for multifunctional managed grasslands.

Community shifts and carbon translocation within metabolically-active rhizosphere microorganisms in grasslands under elevated CO&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt;

Abstract. The aim of this study was to identify the microbial communities that are actively involved in the assimilation of rhizosphere-C and are most sensitive in their activity to elevated atmospheric CO2 in a temperate semi-natural low-input grassland ecosystem. For this, we analyzed 13C signatures in microbial biomarker phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) from an in-situ 13CO2 pulse-labeling experiment in the Giessen Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment grasslands (GiFACE, Germany) exposed to ambient and elevated (i.e. 50% above ambient) CO2 concentrations. Short-term 13C PLFA measurements at 3 h and 10 h after the pulse-labeling revealed very little to no 13C enrichment after 3 h in biomarker PLFAs and a much greater incorporation of new plant-C into fungal compared to bacterial PLFAs after 10 h. After a period of 11 months following the pulse-labeling experiment, the 13C enrichment of fungal PLFAs was still largely present but had decreased, while bacterial PLFAs were much more enriched in 13C compared to a few hours after the pulse-labeling. These results imply that new rhizodeposit-C is rapidly processed by fungal communities and only much later by the bacterial communities, which we attributed to either a fungal-mediated translocation of rhizosphere-C from the fungal to bacterial biomass or a preferential bacterial use of dead root or fungal necromass materials as C source over the direct utilization of fresh root-exudate C in these N-limited grassland ecosystems. Elevated CO2 caused an increase in the proportional 13C enrichment (relative to the universal biomarker 16:0) of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biomarker PLFA 16:1ω5 and one gram-positive bacterial biomarker PLFA i16:0, but a decrease in the proportional 13C enrichment of 18:1ω9c, a commonly used though questionable fungal biomarker PLFA. This suggests enhanced fungal rhizodeposit-C assimilation only by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species under elevated CO2.

Soil nematodes inhabiting an original dry meadow and an abandoned vineyard in the National Park Seewinkel, Eastern Austria

Abstract Nematode communities of cultivated vineyards showed characteristics typical for cultivated ecosystems, e.g. predominance of plant parasitic nematodes followed by bacterivores. The abandoned vineyard showed a reverse trophic structure: bacterivorous nematodes with short life cycles (cp 2) predominated and the population of plant parasites was small. The nematode trophic structure of the dry meadow was similar to the abandoned vineyard. Nevertheless, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that differences in nematode communities were still detectable at the generic level, with some genera occurring solely in one or the other site (e.g. Xiphinema). Thus, soil nematodes indicated a recovery of primary production and decomposition processes in the formerly cultivated vineyard soil, because plant parasites consuming plant tissues decreased, and organic matter breakdown was slower, as in low-input grasslands. Communities of soil nematodes were also compared with intensively cultivated vineyards previously surveyed in Eastern Austria.

Consequences of including adapted white clover in northern European grassland: transfer and deposition of nitrogen

The interspecific transfer of nitrogen (N) between white clover (Trifolium repens) and smooth meadow grass (Poa pratensis) in legume-based grasslands was assessed under North European field conditions using 15N individual plant leaf labelling. On average 50% of N in the grass was transferred from the white clover and about 6% of N in white clover was transferred from the grass. This corresponds to 2.5 and 0.3 g N m−2 being transferred over the growing season between the two species, respectively, and demonstrates that a significant part of the total N of the grass is coming through interspecific transfer. The majority of the 15N transferred was within a period of 20 days at relatively low soil temperatures. This implies that there is a need for a new focus on direct transfer pathways or exudation and transfer of organic N sources. Rhizodeposition in the top 10 cm of the soil was found to be 2.98 g N m−2 on average over the growing season for the grass and white clover mixture. Inclusion of adapted white clover varieties in the low-input grassland systems of northern Europe will lead to a substantial contribution of N.

Effects of agri-environmental measures, site and landscape conditions on butterfly diversity of Swiss grassland

Agri-environment schemes (AES) were introduced in Europe to mitigate the loss of biodiversity in cultivated landscapes. In Switzerland, farmers have to convert 7% of the arable land into ecological compensation areas (ECA) in order to enhance biodiversity, low-input grassland making up the major part of ECA. This study investigated during 6 years the effect of ECA grassland on butterfly diversity at the field and the landscape scales in two farming landscape units of the Swiss Plateau. Butterfly diversity was compared between low-input and conventional grasslands, controlling for potential influence of local site conditions and landscape context of grasslands. Low-input management of ECA grasslands had a significant impact on butterfly communities, but ECA and conventional grasslands differed more in the composition of species assemblages than in the number of butterfly species. The typical butterfly assemblages on ECA grassland might be linked to the slightly higher plant species richness due to management restrictions. However, the effectiveness of ECA grassland for promoting butterfly diversity varied according to local site conditions (field slope and orientation) and to the amount of ECA and semi-natural elements in the surrounding landscape. Thus, the present study underlines the necessity to account for such environmental variation at multiple scales to be able to detect and interpret effects of AES. Nevertheless, our results suggest that additional restoration measures should be adopted. Especially, the ECA scheme should promote a connected network of ECA grasslands and semi-natural habitats at the landscape scale.

Effect of legume proportion and physiological age on forage quality and the suitability of Agrostis capillaris L. and Festuca rubra L. for silage making

The chemical and physical properties of herbage from low-input grassland usually differ from plant material of intensively managed swards. The experiment in split-plot design with four replicates was carried out to examine, whether legume proportions and the physiological age of herbage are relevant to fermentability of herbage. Lotus corniculatus did not increase nitrate concentrations sufficiently in Festuca rubra and most Agrostis capillaris swards to be able to avoid clostridial fermentation. However, Lotus corniculatus reduced the WSC/BC ratio of the grasses grown in mixture and that of the complete herbage of the mixtures. A late first cut in summer had an unexpected positive effect on the WSC/BC ratio of the grasses in pure stands, though reduced nutritive value of silages made from plants of advanced maturity stages are in all probability because of low energy concentrations in the fresh matter even with high yield proportions of the legume. Absence of fertilisation and late utilisation do not affect the chemical requirements for the fermentation process of grass-rich herbage in principle. However, silage making under these conditions is very demanding concerning ensilage technique: it may be necessary to use nitrate additives and higher fibre contents makes it more difficult to compact herbage.

Prediction of digestibility and energy concentration of winter pasture forage and herbage of low-input grassland?-?A Comparison of methods

Regarding the estimation of the energy concentration or digestibility of herb-dominated forage and plant samples from winter pastures, it could be expected that the estimation is only reliable when in vitro methods with rumen fluid as inoculum (= gas production techniques) are used. For the verification of this thesis based on logical reflections, an in vitro-method with rumen fluid added as inoculum, as well as chemical, and enzymatic methods were applied under consideration of existing estimating functions. As a possible reason for the observed divergence of the methods, effects of fungal infections or, respectively, secondary compounds in herbs are discussed. At the present state of knowledge, it is adequate to estimate the energy concentration in vitro by gas tests, as far as fattening types like suckler cows and beef cattle are concerned, maybe in contrast to the forage evaluation for dairy cows.

Below-ground nitrogen transfer between different grassland species: Direct quantification by 15N leaf feeding compared with indirect dilution of soil 15N

Nitrogen (N) transfer from one species to another is important for the N cycling in low-input grassland. In the present work, estimates obtained by an indirect 15N dilution technique were compared with estimates obtained by a direct 15N leaf feeding technique over two complete growing seasons in red clover-ryegrass and white clover-ryegrass mixtures under field conditions.