Weed suppression greatly increased by plant diversity in intensively managed grasslands: A continental-scale experiment.

ABSTRACT: Grassland diversity can support sustainable intensification of grassland production through increased yields, reduced inputs and limited weed invasion. We report the effects of diversity on weed suppression from 3 years of a 31-site continental-scale field experiment.At each site, 15 grassland communities comprising four monocultures and 11 four-species mixtures based on a wide range of species' proportions were sown at two densities and managed by cutting. Forage species were selected according to two crossed functional traits, "method of nitrogen acquisition" and "pattern of temporal development".Across sites, years and sown densities, annual weed biomass in mixtures and monocultures was 0.5 and 2.0 t  DM ha^-1 (7% and 33% of total biomass respectively). Over 95% of mixtures ha

SUBMITTER: Connolly J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5836893 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature