Dry‐matter production and botanical composition of multispecies and perennial ryegrass swards under varying defoliation management

Abstract

Multispecies swards, comprised of different plant functional groups have comparable production potential to high N input L. perenne swards at reduced N when legumes are included. However, information on the appropriate management of multispecies swards is limited. The effect of differing management practices on the herbage dry‐matter (DM) production and botanical composition of different sward types was investigated using a 3 × 2 × 2 factorial design plot experiment. The experiment consisted of three sward types: L. perenne‐only receiving (LP; 250 kg N ha−1 a−1); L. perenne‐Trifolium repens (LP‐TR); multispecies sward containing L. perenne, Phleum pratense, Trifolium repens, Trifolium pratense, Plantago lanceolata and Cichorium intybus (MSS). LP‐TR and MSS received 90 kg N ha−1 a−1. Harvesting of plot herbage took place every 21 or 28 days to a defoliation height of 4 or 6 cm, over two growing seasons (March to November 2020 and 2021 inclusive). Annual herbage produced by both LP and LP‐TR was not significantly affected by defoliation frequency. However, MSS produced 1923 kg DM ha−1 a−1 more herbage when harvested less frequently. Unsown species contributed significantly less to the herbage DM of MSS compared to LP and LP‐TR and remained similar in 2020 and 2021, whereas the contribution of unsown species to herbage DM increased in LP and LP‐TR from 2020 to 2021, with noxious species more associated with LP and LP‐TR than MSS. Results demonstrate the role of multispecies swards in improving the sustainability of grass‐based agricultural systems in an environment of reduced fertilizer inputs.

Multi‐species for multifunctional grassland: Evaluation of minor and novel forage species for temperate humid grasslands

“…It may present an option as a biological ensiling constituent because it contains oxalic acid (Weißbach, 1998), potentially accelerating the pH drop in harvested herbage during ensiling (Lukač et al, 2012). Other widely used forage plants with relevance in intensive grassland on fertile soil are C. intybus and P. lanceolata (Baker et al, 2023;Heshmati et al, 2020;Komainda, Reidy, et al, 2020). S. minor has its main distribution in Central to Southern Europe, Australia or North Africa (Douglas, 1991) preferably on dry and shallow soils.…”

“…For example, Stutz et al (2023) assessed a range of legumes in a temperate environment, including T. subterraneum, T. ambiguum and T. tumens. In the study by Baker et al (2023), multispecies swards containing P. lanceolata and C. intybus were analysed.…”

Topics from the 2023 EGF Symposium: The future role of ley‐farming in cropping systems, and other recent grassland events

“…Plant diversity can reduce vulnerability and increase drought resilience of permanent and sown productive grasslands (Lüscher et al, 2022). In recent years, various papers on multispecies swards were published in this journal that illustrate an increasing research interest in plant diversity and forage species other than grasses, both in temperate climate zones (Baker et al, 2023; Golińska et al, 2024; Ineichen et al, 2020, 2023; Komainda et al, 2022; Niderkorn et al, 2019) and dryland pasture systems (Seeno et al, 2023). This follows earlier work published in a special issue on annual and perennial forage legumes in dryland pasture systems (Smith & Elgersma, 2021).…”