Ten years of observations on the phenology of permanent meadows in the western part of Switzerland | Dix ans d'observations sur la phenologie des prairies permanentes en Suisse romande
2005
Jeangros, B. (Agroscope RAC Changins, Station federale de recherches agronomiques, Nyon (Switzerland)) | Amaudraz, M.
The phenological development of a meadow at the cutting time determines to a great extent the nutritive value of the forage. To provide farmers with reference stages, the phenology in spring of permanent meadows located in the western part of Switzerland has been observed from 1995 to 2004. This paper presents the methods used to describe the phenological development of meadows, gives a synthesis of all performed observations and analyses the effect of temperature. The "stage equivalent cocksfoot (SEC), which takes many plant species of different earliness into account, was used to describe the phenological development of a meadow. In the lowlands, the SEC full heading is reached on average May the 9th and this stage is delayed by 4 days on average when the altitude increases by 100 m. At the same date, there is a difference of less than one stage between an early year and a late year below 750 m. Above 1000 m, this difference can reach one and a half stage. The variations between the years can be partly explained by temperature differences from March to May, but it is not yet possible to infer in a simple and precise manner the phenological development of permanent meadows from temperature measurements.
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