Speaker
Description
Background and objectives
In livestock-dominated regions, cattle farming poses a risk of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) leaching into surface and ground waters. At the same time, it faces pressure to cope with challenging global conditions and a changing climate. Agroecological methods aim to sustain production while reducing dependence on fossil-based fertilisers and nutrient losses to water and air. Testing this requires field evidence on the forage species, mixtures and management that farmers use. Using AgriLeach, an AnaEE-ERIC open-air lysimeter platform, two projects share the plots: Nero (ERDF) measures forage yield and nutrient losses to water over a 4-year rotation, while HEAL (AGROECOLOGY Partnership) assesses the pre-crop value of the rotation crops and economics.
Methods
On 16 plots (four randomised blocks), each pairing a repacked sandy-soil lysimeter (60 m², 2 m deep) with a 250 m² surface-runoff collector, we compare two conventional crops — perennial grass ley and spring barley — with two agroecological alternatives, a red clover–grass mixture (biological N fixation) and barley undersown with a grass catch crop (erosion control and nutrient retention), fertilised with cattle slurry and mineral N. Flow-proportional automatic sampling measures surface and subsurface nutrients; replicated plots measure dry-matter yield and quality; weather, soil moisture, frost depth and snowmelt imaging link losses to crop uptake and winter dynamics. The plots can also host simultaneous greenhouse-gas chamber measurements.
Preliminary results
In the 2024 establishment year, spring barley yielded ca. 3.5–3.9 t grain DM ha⁻¹ on the barley plots and ca. 4.0–4.5 t whole-crop DM ha⁻¹ as the cover crop for the grass and clover leys. In the following hydrological year (2024–2025), subsurface total N was moderate (5–6 mg/l) and nitrate-dominated, with small treatment differences. Surface-runoff total P was moderate (<0.4 mg/l) and mostly dissolved, higher under leys than barley; suspended solids were low (ca. 2 mg/l). These results match monitoring of a grassland-rich catchment (Räty et al., 2020). Experiment is ongoing, and full nutrient loads over the rotation will be calculated on completion. Via AgroServ, external researchers can join the research.
Keywords: agroecology; nutrient leaching; boreal grassland; lysimeter; surface runoff
Räty, M., Järvenranta, K., Saarijärvi, E., Koskiaho, J., Virkajärvi, P., 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2020.107075
| Are you participating to the "AnaEE Environmental Rising Star Award "? | No |
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