Research is needed to investigate the transferability of results

on impacts of diversity on productivity and other services from experimental studies to ley farming conditions. To make results applicable for more permanent grassland use, research should focus on established grasslands with species numbers and management comparable to agricultural situations. Next to primary production, the nutritional quality of the biomass should be considered as well as harvest losses in case of meadows. The selectivity of grazers has to be investigated in permanent pastures comprising more than just one or two species. Here, further research has to focus on animal-sward interactions and on the effects of breed, physiological stage and grazing experience selleck chemicals on the process of selective

grazing. By grazing https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pf299804.html at different densities, the plant species richness can be—at least partly—determined, but little is known about the potential to create and maintain structurally varying grasslands (Adler et al. 2001; van Wieren and Bakker 1998). Furthermore, a closer look needs to be taken at soil biology and interactions between above- and belowground diversity. In this context, the consideration of organic livestock systems may be interesting, as these may have a higher plant diversity and rely more on services of diversity than conventional systems (Hole et al. 2005; Rundlöf et al. 2010). For grassland farming, diversity can still have advantages, albeit maybe not the desired production effect. Several other services of biodiversity are also of importance to farmers, e.g. increased stability of production, resilience to changes, improved use of nutrients and water, or influences on product quality. Here as well, more research is needed under more realistic agricultural conditions to

better understand the magnitude of these effects. Although in experimental plots more species have been found to be necessary for multiple ecosystem services (Hector and Bagchi 2007), species numbers in permanent grassland might already be high enough to allow such multifunctionality. For biodiversity conservation, agricultural management is important in temperate grasslands as diversity has developed over the last centuries in line with management. Here, grazing systems with intermediate GSK3326595 research buy stocking Clomifene densities seem to have the largest potential for recreation of diversity. Grazing creates a more heterogeneous sward than mowing as the animals affect sward composition by a mixture of selective grazing, treading and excretion. Generally, biodiversity-adapted grazing systems might only be economically viable if the costs for maintenance, fertilizer and leasing, especially, can be kept to a minimum. In other cases, the potential of the pasture needs to be utilized better to be profitable. Animal performance is a result of herbage intake and quality.