Vegetation change of mountainous hay meadows to intensified management regime in organic farming

Abstract

The whole vegetation assemblage of 60 relevés (4 m²) in a block design was examined at two mountainous hay meadow stands over a two-year period. All sites were situated at a certified organic farm, managed according to the guidelines of organic farming since 1995. According to the traditional management acreages are mowed two times per year followed by grazing and solid manure fertilisation in autumn. The effect of management intensity (two, three, four cuts per year and adapted fertilisation) was tested for coverage of most frequent species: Trisetum flavescens, Dactylis glomerata, Poa pratensis, Poa trivialis, Festuca pratensis, Lolium perenne, Trifolium repens, Taraxacum officinale agg., Carum carvi and Achillea millefolium. Our main interest was to detect how fast cover changes of different species occur. During the investigation period of two years, almost all taxa showed a significant alteration when mown more than 2 times a year. Stolon and rosette forming plants profited from increased management whereas tall tuft grasses lost coverage