The Netherlands
July 10, 2017
Most pastures in the Netherlands/ Western Europe are mainly based on Lolium Perenne. This species got a good production and top feeding quality. However, the management of forage grasses is top sport. Everything must be correct: fertilization, moisture supply, disease pressure and soil life. In practice we see that the quality of the soil and the soil life are unfortunately under pressure. Bigger and heavier machines are used also under not optimal circumstances resulting in soil compaction and structural damages.
In agriculture/ arable farming top performing cover crops are widely used to tackle above problems. For years DSV is leading with its cover crop mixture programme TerraLife®. We as DSV know that the combination of the right plant species stimulate the soil life resulting in healthier plants.
Use the knowledge of different plants on grassland
Could we use the positive characteristics of plant species in grass mixtures? Diversity in the root systems results in a higher drought tolerance, water infiltration and soil structure. The disease pressure can be decreased, for example less crown rust in grass clover mixtures.
Since 2015 DSV is doing research on species-rich grasslands. A trial can be found on two DSV locations with different nitrogen levels. A lot of different mixtures consisting of different grass species and several legume species for nitrogen fixation are used. Some mixtures are enriched with herbs.
Cows need high quality forage for the milk production. Additionally, protein and structure are also important. These species-rich grasslands are a supplement to the ration of the cows. The legumes increase the protein content and can reduce the amount of soja purchased and some grass species give more cell walls and good structure which can reduce the purchased of straw. So these species-rich grasslands are not for extensive use, but are really an additional benefit to the whole farm rotational plan. One plus one should be three in this case.
The first results of these trials are that impressive, that we will continue this trial. We are always open for ideas and suggestions from other companies, scientists and people who want to join us in this very promising research.
Topics
Species
