Enhancing Grassland Biodiversity and Its Consequences for Grassland Management and Utilisation

Key points 1. Grasslands make an important contribution to the biodiversity of rural landscapes. 2. Biodiversity has the potential to support the production function of grassland. The conditions for this are largely unexplored. 3. The enhancement of biodiversity on agriculturally improved, species-poor grasslands is difficult to achieve due to seed limitation and high residual soil fertility. 4. Measures to overcome constraints are addition of propagules, depletion of soil nutrients, and the use of specific sward treatments. 5. Agri-environmental schemes will play an increasing role in achieving the biodiversity targets in the future, however, the efficiency of such schemes needs improvement

Productivity and forage quality of a phytodiverse semi-natural grassland under various management regimes

Grassland management experiment (GrassMan) was set up in 2008 on a permanent semi-natural grassland in the Solling uplands, Germany. The main research focus is on the ecosystem functioning of the phytodiverse grassland (e.g. productivity and forage quality, water and nutrient fluxes). The aim of our study was to analyse the effects of vegetation composition and functional diversity on productivity and forage quality of the semi-natural permanent grassland. Variation in sward composition was achieved by herbicide application and resulted in three sward types: control sward type (without herbicide application), monocot-reduced and dicot-reduced. Further management factors included different nutrient input levels (without fertilizer and 180-30-100 kg/ha of N-P-K per year) and use intensity (cut once or three times a year). Functional diversity was determined by estimation of the yield shares for each species in the species composition and their specific functional characteristics. Forage quality was analysed by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). While sward type influenced the forage quality, yield variation was explained mainly by the management regime

Institutions, Structures and Topics of Grassland Research in Germany - From Science to Practice

In Germany, grassland covers some 30% of the agriculturally used land. It forms the basis of forage production in dairy and beef cattle husbandry as well as sheep and horse feeding. The intensification of grassland farming during the last fifty years was made possible through extended basic and applied research in all fields of grassland management. This included the improvement of forage species and varieties by plant breeding, the adaptation of botanical knowledge for the control of the botanical composition of permanent grass swards, the application of regular fertilisation, the improvement of the grazing management, the increased frequency of utilisation or herbage conservation by ensiling. In addition to the general improvement of forage production, the refinement of production measures in animal husbandry has led to a marked increase of efficiency in dairy and beef cattle farming. Production-orientated research was well funded until the late 1980\u27s. Since then, the awareness of adverse side effects of the intensification of grassland farming, such as the loss of biodiversity, the pollution of the environment mainly by excess nitrogen and phosphorus, and the emission of greenhouse gases has grown. In addition, with the reform of the European Union Agricultural Policy in 1992, the rental costs for grassland decreased as did the stocking rates. On marginal sites, grassland is now at risk of being abandoned from agricultural use. Thus, increasing forage production and refining production measures have lost priority in grassland research and multiple function grasslands have become the main target of research

Grassland Renovation and Consequences for Nutrient Management

Sward degradation is a serious threat to the functioning of grassland and the provision of ecosystem services. Renovation measures are frequently applied in order to restore degraded swards. However, the success is highly variable and substantial tradeoffs are often found following renovation such as among agronomic and environmental services. Starting from a general classification of renovation measures the paper investigates the processes induced by renovation that lead to a change of the vegetation and that affect carbon and nitrogen fluxes. These processes are strongly interrelated and dependent on site, climate and management condition as well as on the time scale. The more an existing and degraded sward is deliberately disturbed prior to a renovation measure, e.g. by ploughing, the larger will be the vegetation change, the potential yield and quality advantage but also the risk of soil organic carbon release and nitrogen emissions to the environment. Such effects are unlikely to maintain in the longer term. This demonstrates that the renovation of swards is always the second best solution if there is the opportunity to avoid degradation by a proper grassland utilization

Where Is the Livestock Future – Plate- or Land-Based? The Potential of Knowledge-Based, Holistic Grazing Concepts for Altering Grazing Livestock Systems

In those days, livestock production heavily depends on feed grown on arable land. Pork production needs most of arable land to gain one kilogram of human-edible protein, followed by chicken, beef production and the dairy sector. In many European countries there is a sharp decline in livestock grazing. Many dairy farms are under pressure to maximize the total annual milk output per cow resulting in increased herd sizes by occupying a minimum of land and feeding of conserved forage of silage and concentrates. Such practices reinforce the competition for arable land for animal feeding as well as grassland intensification by heavily fertilization and frequent cutting to feed the non-grazing cows. This intensification results in unfavourable changes in species composition, loss of biodiversity and important ecosystem services. Moreover, development and widespread adoption of precision farming technologies for grazing systems has been stagnated for many years. The shift towards well-balanced, sustainable grazing systems, that produces more and impacts less, is not easily feasible. Indeed, achieving such grazing systems implies several scientific, technical and socio-economic challenges. These challenges need to be solved in a holistic way in order to facilitate systems integration and transformation into practise. Moreover, the transition requires disruptive innovations for improved pasture utilization by precisely timed grazing pressure for optimizing plant recovery, reducing emissions and maintaining or even recreating structural, biological and functional richness.Thus, an integrated framework combing innovative technologies and concepts is required. The inter-disciplinary project GreenGrass focuses on the development of innovative grazing systems by using novel technologies such as virtual fences and remote sensing in order to bring cows back to pasture and to use the grasslands potential in an efficient and sustainable manner

Auf die Auslaufbepflanzung gerichtetes Verhalten von Legehennen bei unterschiedlicher botanischer Zusammensetzung und Bodendeckung der Grasnarbe

In organic laying hens husbandry it is desirable that the animals cover a proportion of their daily fodder intake by foraging in the outside run, e.g. by grazing. So far, however, few studies have investigated the factors which influence herbage intake of laying hens. In the present experiment we analysed the foraging behaviour of laying hens in the outside run at different conditions of sward botanical composition and of percentage ground cover of vegetation. The animals were taken to pasture on monocultures and a mixed plot of fourteen grassland plant species for three levels of period of stay in a rotational grazing system. By means of point sampling, we recorded scratching, plant pecking and ground pecking. Our results indicate that the factor plant species per se is a weak determinant of the animals’ foraging behaviour. However, the tested plant species showed varying persistence at prolonged duration of stocking. Percentage ground cover of vegetation had a significant positive correlation with plant pecking and was negatively correlated with ground pecking. At a ground cover of less than 60 %, the frequency of plant pecking strongly decreased

Untersuchung der Eignung heimischer Grünlandarten für die Bepflanzung von Legehennen-Auslaufflächen

Die Erhaltung einer intakten Vegetationsdecke auf Auslaufflächen ist wichtig, um negative Umweltwirkungen der Geflügel-Freilandhaltung zu vermeiden. Im vorliegenden Projekt untersuchten wir im Rahmen einer Feldstudie die Eignung von vierzehn heimischen Grünlandarten für die Bepflanzung von Auslaufflächen. Durch die Beweidung mit Legehennen wurden bei den verschiedenen Arten signifikant (P < 0.001) unterschiedliche Anteile des Aufwuchses von den Flächen entnommen. Die Besatzleistung war bei einigen untersuchten Arten ein signifikanter erklärender Faktor für ihre Wachstumsrate nach Ende der Beweidung. Wir schließen aus unseren Daten, dass Poa supina und Festuca arundinacea gut für die Begrünung von Geflügel-Auslaufflächen geeignet sein können, da weniger als 20 % ihres Aufwuchses durch die Hühner abgefressen wurden, und ihre Wachstumsraten durch Beweidung mit unterschiedlichen Besatzleistungen nicht signifikant verändert wurden

Species-Rich Grassland as an Ecological Good in an Outcome-Based Payment Scheme

Agriculture plays an important role in protecting the biodiversity of the rural environment. Since the reform of the EU\u27s common agricultural policy (CAP) in 1992, agri-environment schemes have been supported by the EU within the framework of the second pillar of CAP. In these programmes, farmers were rewarded for environmental services. The predominantly action-oriented programmes imply particular disadvantages; they tend to lack economic efficiency and to fail with regard to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity (Kleijn & Sutherland, 2003; Wilhelm, 1999). This situation was the starting point for the development of an outcome-based payment scheme. We focus on the process of defining ecological goods - in particular with regard to grassland - as the results of ecological services, which are to be remunerated by means of this innovative payment system

Eignung belastungsfester Pflanzenarten für die Etablierung von Grasnarben für die Geflügel-Außenhaltung

In der Freilandhaltung von Legehennen ist die Bepflanzung der Auslauffläche sehr starken Belastungen ausgesetzt. Trotz etablierten Methoden des Auslaufmanagements hat dies häufig eine Verkahlung des Bodens zur Folge. Es besteht daher die Notwendigkeit, in Ergänzung zu den bekannten Praktiken der Auslaufpflege auch pflanzenbauliche Strategien zu entwickeln, welche zur Erhaltung einer intakten Vegetationsdecke beitragen. In dem vorliegenden Projekt wurde die Eignung von vierzehn belastungstoleranten Grünlandgräsern und –kräutern zur Etablierung von belastbaren Grasnarben für die ökologische Geflügelhaltung untersucht. In einem Freilandexperiment wurde an Monokulturen und einer Mischsaat der untersuchten Arten die Wirkung von wiederholter Beweidung durch Legehennen in drei verschiedenen Besatzleistungen untersucht, wobei die Grasnarbenqualität, die Narbenlückigkeit und die Wachstumsraten des Aufwuchses vergleichend beurteilt wurden. Darüber hinaus wurde das Verhalten der Tiere auf unterschiedlichen Grasnarben aufgezeichnet und seine Abhängigkeit von der Grasnarbenqualität analysiert. Aus einer zusammenschauenden Betrachtung der gemessenen Parameter ließ sich ableiten, dass die untersuchten Kräuter generell eine geringere Eignung zur Bepflanzung von Auslaufflächen für Legehennen aufwiesen als die Grasarten. Die Bodendeckung lag bei allen untersuchten Kräuterarten nach wiederholter Bestockung mit hoher Besatzleistung durchschnittlich unter 60 %, bei einigen Arten war gleichzeitig eine signifikante Abnahme der Dichte der Vegetationspunkte feststellbar. Insgesamt die höchste Leistungsfähigkeit unter den untersuchten Arten zeigten Poa supina und Festuca arundinacea, bei welchen nach wiederholter Bestockung Bodendeckungsgrade von über 80 % und relativ konstante Werte für Triebdichte und Wachstumsraten gemessen wurden

Little Effect of Species Richness and Vegetation Composition on Herbage Production and Quality in a Permanent Temperate Grassland

Phytodiversity of grasslands has been shown to support production and other ecosystem services (e.g.Weigel et al. 2009, Tilman et al. 2012). However, in many of these studies, species richness was controlled by sowing and weeding and it was questionable to what extent the findings would also be applicable to permanent \u27real world\u27 grasslands where the species number is dependent on site and management conditions. In addition there is uncertainty about the effect of diversity on the herbage value for ruminants (Wrage et al. 2011). In a new approach to biodiversity experiments, we combined experimental and observational measures and modified the vegetation of a permanent grassland by the use of herbicides (Petersen et al. 2012). We measured herbage production and quality over two full harvest years