Long term effects of differentiated management practices on meadows and pastures of a mountain farm | Effets a long terme d'une gestion differenciee sur les prairies et les paturages d'une exploitation de montagne
2008
Jeangros, B. | Troxler, J., Station de recherche Agroscope Changins-Waedenswil ACW, Nyon (Switzerland)
As part of a study on the impact of the Swiss agricultural policy on a mountain dairy farm, the evolution of the meadows and pastures on the experimental farm of La Frêtaz/Bullet (1200 m a.s.l.) was followed during 10 years. Observations were carried out on 18 permanent plots to assess the consequences of mineral fertilizers abandonment and of differenciated management practices. In meadows managed at a low intensive level, nutrients availability in the soil and nutrients content in the grass declined slowly. The annual amount of grass produced by this type of grassland decreased gradually while botanical diversity slightly increased. By contrast, annual production and botanical composition of intensive meadows remained stable. On pastures, we neither observed a reduction of the soil fertility nor important modifications of the botanical composition. On the whole, results show that the characteristics of meadows and pastures didn’t changed a lot, despite the abandonment of mineral fertilizers, and that increasing botanical diversity only by reducing management intensity is difficult.
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