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Organically grown grassclover in nature areas to remove soil phosphate for development of specious rich grasslands

Timmermans, B.G.H. and Eekeren, N. van (2014) Organically grown grassclover in nature areas to remove soil phosphate for development of specious rich grasslands. In: Rahmann, Gerold and Aksoy, Uygun (Eds.) Thünen Report 20, 3.

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Summary

Worldwide the current reserves of phosphate rock are being exhausted. In The Netherlands many former agricultural soils have been enriched by large quantities of phosphorus as a result of fertilization. It is thought that this phosphorus prevents development of target-nature types. Nature organizations currently seek ways to remove it. We tested grassclover, organically managed by local farmers, as a tool to extract excessive soilphosphate from nature areas and reimport it into the mineral cycle agricultural farms. In a small scale experiment we have shown that grassclover with potassium fertilization can remove more than twice the amount of soil phosphate compared to mowing alone. We tested the methodology on 60 ha of grasslands in nature areas and measured large decreases in soil phosphate. We conclude that organically managed grassclover could form an elegant way to solve problems with excessive soil phosphate in nature areas and recycle phosphate.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Paper
Keywords:biodiversity, nutrient cycles, soils, species richness, Trifolium repens
Subjects: Soil > Soil quality
Soil > Nutrient turnover
Soil
Research affiliation: Netherlands > Louis Bolk Institute
Deposited By: Broekhuizen, Dr Roelinka
ID Code:28300
Deposited On:04 Mar 2015 09:30
Last Modified:04 Mar 2015 09:30
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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