Studying spatial and temporal dynamics of sward structure at low stocking densities: the use of an extended rising‐plate‐meter method
By O. Correll, J. Isselstein, V. Pavlů. 2003
94 citations recorded by the source corpus.
An extended rising-plate-meter method was used to study the spatial and temporal variability of the sward structure of extensively managed pastures over a grazing season. Two treatments of a long-term grazing experiment with heifers were investigated: extensive continuous grazing (EG) with a target sward height of 10 cm and intensive continuous grazing (IG) with a target sward height of 5 cm. Compressed sward height and related herbage mass (HM), dominant plant species and stage of development of phenology were determined at weekly or twice weekly intervals at fixed measuring points. The results demonstrated a strong variability in sward height and HM, especially on the EG treatment. The botanical composition of the standing herbage differed between treatments and between patches of different heights within the same treatment. In areas with a short sward, the herbage was predominantly composed of Agrostis capillaris, Festuca rubra and Trifolium repens. It was more evenly composed and also included taller growing species, such as Alopecurus pratensis and Galium mollugo, in areas with a tall sward. The area potentially available for reproductive development was high in the EG treatment and low in the IG treatment. The method employed proved suitable to provide a detailed description of the dynamics of the sward structure.
Subfields: Agronomy and Crop Science, Forestry, Genetics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/782c42d7cbec503fa0f8e6c300048736da3b8346
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Citations in the corpus
- The Rengen Grassland Experiment: Plant species composition after 64 years of fertilizer application (2007, methodology): “compressed sward height) was calculated as a mean of 10 measurements performed with a rising plate meter (Sanderson et al., 1999; Correll et al., 2003) within each 1.”
- Effects of livestock breed and grazing intensity on biodiversity and production in grazing systems. 1. Nutritive value of herbage and livestock performance (2007, background): “This process of herbage accumulation and maturation shows a high spatial and temporal variability ( Correll et al., 2003 ) which is closely related to the grazing behaviour and the dietary choices of the livestock (Wallis de Vries and Daleboudt, 1994).”
- Restoration of grazing management and its effect on vegetation in an upland grassland (2007, background): “Extensive grazing is characterized by a strongly variable sward height and species composition (Correll et al. 2003).”
- Effect of continuous grazing on forage quality, quantity and animal performance (2006, background): “repens are species tolerant to heavy grazing usually dominant in short swards (Correll et al., 2003; Matějková et al., 2003; Pavlů et al., 2003).”