►EFFECT OF SEED MIXTURE COMPOSITION AND MANAGEMENT ON COMPETITIVENESS OF HERBS IN TEMPORARY GRASSLANDS Mortensen T., Søegaard K. and Eriksen J. Oral presentation at the 24 th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, June 5 th 2012

►INTRODUCTION ►MOTIVATION Herbs have beneficial side-effects ►OBJECTIVE Seed mixture composition Management factors ►PROSPECTS Increasing the competitiveness of herbs Designing multispecies temporary grasslands

►MATERIAL AND METHOD ►MANAGEMENT FACTORS SEED MIXTURE COMPOSITION 100% herb mixture Salad burnet, fenugreek, chicory, caraway, birdsfoot trefoil, chervil, lucerne, melilot and English plantain 50% herb mixture50% herb mixture + 50% grass-clover standard mixture 5% herb mixture5% herb mixture + 95% standard mixture CUTTING FREQUENCY 4 vs. 6 cuts pr. growing season SLURRY APPLICATION 0 vs. 200 kg total N ha -1 in cattle slurry

►ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS 4 cut situation: – Stability in aboveground biomass with sward age. – Increased aboveground biomass with increasing content of herb mixture. 6 cut situation: – Yield decrease with sward age. – Reduced aboveground biomass with increasing content of herb mixture. herb mixture

►RESPONSE TO FERTILISATION Modest effect of fertilisation: – Aboveground biomass – Interspecific competition

►COMPETITIVENESS OF SPECIES CompetitivenessSpeciesProportion of aboveground biomass Seed rate (% of total) 5%50%100% herb mixture Dominant Perennial ryegrass4229 White clover5331 Lucerne Chicory Caraway Intermediate English plantain Birdsfoot trefoil Salad burnet Weak Melilot Chervil00010 Fenugreek00019 Unsown

►LUCERNE ( Mediago sativa L.) A driver species in the 4 cut situation Competition between lucerne and white clover increased with increasing content of herbs

►CHICORY ( Chicorium intybus L.) Dominated 1 st year In decline in the 2 nd -3 rd year

►CARAWAY ( Carum carvi L.) Monocarpic behaviour: reproduction efforts in 3 rd year – Investment below-ground 1 st and 2 nd year (cf. poster, Eriksen et al. 2012, pp ) Suppressed lucerne

► CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS Factors important for the aboveground biomass and botanical composition: – Seed mixture composition – Sward age – Cutting frequency Opportunities to manipulate the botanical composition of multispecies temporary grasslands

► THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION