Clover content and yield of swards on organic farms - maintenance and estimation

Grassland production based on legumes is an essential part of the productivity and economy of the organic farming systems. The clover content is an important factor in organic grassland management to optimize the yield, feed value and pre-crop effect of ley. The ley yield and clover content of one-, two- and three-year-old leys were determined on eight organic farms in 1998. Two-year-old leys produced the highest (6500 kg/ha dm) and three-year-old leys (4900 kg/ha dm) the lowest yields, with no significant differences between one- and two-year-old leys. The clover content (20-80 % of dm) diminished to the same extent as the yields. Because the ley samples from the organic farms gave strong evidence of decreasing yield level and clover content in the 3-year-old leys, we started to develop a technique to maintain the ley productivity in older swards. This technique includes oversowing of clover in the spring of the second ley year and utilization of lime-pelleted, pre-inoculated seed. Lime-pelleted, pre-inoculated clover seed oversown at different times in spring were compared with the aim of developing an oversowing method for Finnish conditions. The preliminary results do not show any differences, but studies are ongoing

Preliminary evaluation of annually cultivated forage legumes for organic farming in Finland

In 1998-2001 nineteen forage legume species (Lupinus, Medicago, Melilotus, Pisum, Trifolium and Vicia species) were evaluated at two sites of Eastern Finland (Mikkeli and Juva). Species were studied for their annual productivity in pure stands and in mixtures with cereals (barley and oats) and Italian ryegrass. Swards were cut either twice or once (whole grain silage stage of barley)

Preliminary evaluation of perennial forage legumes for organic farming in Finland

In 1998-2001 fourteen forage legume species were evaluated for their productivity in mixed organic swards. The aim was to find new alternatives for red clover. Medicago falcata produced the highest dry matter yield (about 11 000 kg/ha/year). Dry matter production of Trifolium pratense, Trifolium hybridum and Medicago sativa varied from 2 200 to 10 600 kg/ha/year

Management of red clover content of organic grassland

The clover content is an important factor in organic grassland management to optimize yield, feeding value and pre-crop effect of the ley. The variation of red clover (Trifolium pratense) content in swards of different age is often rather high in Finland. In the ongoing field experiment (1999-2002) staggered sowing of red clover seed was tested to regulate the clover content of the mixed sward. Sowing strategy did not have clear effect on the clover content or the yield of the sward. However the seeding rate affected the clover density of the field (plants/m²) in the first year. After two years the differences were equated. The best strategy to control the clover amount in the mixed swards seems sowing of 2 or 3 kg/ha (100 or 150 seeds/m²) clover seeds in establishment and then oversow on a first second ley year 1 or 2 kg/ha (50 or 100 seeds/m²)

Stop as a next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle in constrained MSSM

So far the squarks have not been detected at the LHC indicating that they are heavier than a few hundred GeVs, if they exist. The lighter stop can be considerably lighter than the other squarks. We study the possibility that a supersymmetric partner of the top quark, stop, is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle in the constrained supersymmetric standard model. Various constraints, on top of the mass limits, are taken into an account, and the allowed parameter space for this scenario is determined. Observing stop which is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle at the LHC may be difficult.Comment: v2: A few references, a plot indicating used parameters, discussion about the role of parameters in determination of the stop NLSP, CCB minima and a comment about (g-2) added. Typos corrected. Version in PR

Finger weeder for cabbage and lettuce cultures

Summer 2002 we compared finger weeder against net harrow and herbicides in cabbage. Field trial 2003 was dedicated to lettuce: we compared different intensities of finger weeding in two different lettuce cultivars

A Climatology of Disdrometer Measurements of Rainfall in Finland over Five Years with Implications for Global Radar Observations

To improve the understanding of high-latitude rain microphysics and its implications for the remote sensing of rainfall by ground-based and spaceborne radars, raindrop size measurements have been analyzed that were collected over five years with a Joss–Waldvogel disdrometer located in Järvenpää, Finland. The analysis shows that the regional climate is characterized by light rain and small drop size with narrow size distributions and that the mutual relations of drop size distribution parameters differ from those reported at lower latitudes. Radar parameters computed from the distributions demonstrate that the high latitudes are a challenging target for weather radar observations, particularly those employing polarimetric and dual-frequency techniques. Nevertheless, the findings imply that polarimetric ground radars can produce reliable “ground truth” estimates for space observations and identify dual-frequency radars utilizing a W-band channel as promising tools for observing rainfall in the high-latitude climate.Peer reviewe