Grass-legume mixtures sustain strong yield advantage over monocultures under cool maritime growing conditions over a period of 5 years.

ABSTRACT: Background and Aims:Grassland-based livestock systems in cool maritime regions are commonly dominated by grass monocultures receiving relatively high levels of fertilizer. The current study investigated whether grass-legume mixtures can improve the productivity, resource efficiency and robustness of yield persistence of cultivated grassland under extreme growing conditions over a period of 5 years. Methods:Monocultures and mixtures of two grasses (Phleum pratense and Festuca pratensis) and two legumes (Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens), one of which was fast establishing and the other temporally persistent, were sown in a field trial. Relative abundance of the four species in the mixtures was systematically varied at sowing. The plots were maintained under three N levels (20, 70 and

SUBMITTER: Helgadottir A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6070104 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature