Auswirkungen von Schnitt-und Weidenutzung auf die Ertragsbildung und den Stickstoffgehalt verschiedener Futterleguminosen.

Summary

The objective of this study was to compare the agronomic performance of different forage legume species submitted to different management systems, i.e. grazing, silage-cut and simulated grazing to find alternatives for white clover. The experiment was established in 2003 and 2004 as binary swards with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) as the companion grass with three replicates in two different sites on the experimental station “Lindhof” of the University of Kiel. Legume species were arranged within each management system as completely randomised blocks. Results of agro-nomic performance of the first production years in 2004 and 2005 (DM-yield, botanical composition, N-yield, N-content) are presented for white clover swards (Trifolium repens L.), red clover swards (Trifolium pratense L.), lucerne swards (grazing type, Medicago sativa L.) and birdsfoot trefoil swards (Lotus corniculatus L.). Considering both years the birdsfoot trefoil/grass-swards were the only ones which produced significantly less DM-yield (736 g DM m² a-1) under simulated grazing than the white clover/grass-swards (805 g DM m2 a-1). While under grazing all legume/grass-swards produced a significant lower DM-yield compared to the white clover/grass-swards, no significant differences can be found under the silage-cut system. Considering the N-yield, birdsfoot trefoil/grass-swards were the only legume/grass-swards which pro-duced a significant lower N-yield under the 5-cut system (14.1 g N m² a-1) as well as under grazing (15.7 g N m² a-1) compared to the white clover/grass-swards (26 g N m² a-1 and 21.9 g N m² a-1 respectively). Considering the botanical composition of the different legume/grass-swards all legume species had a significant higher propor-tion of total DM-yield under cutting compared to white clover in 2004. Comparisons between systems showed that beside the white clover/grass-swards all legume/grass-swards had a significant lower legume proportion under grazing in comparison to the cutting systems. Because of the comparable agronomic performance of the red clo-ver/grass-swards and lucerne/grass-swards, both legume species could be used as alternatives for white clover under cutting, while the birdsfoot trefoil/grass-swards should be considered carefully because of their low agronomic performance. Whereas white clover showed the highest performance under the grazing system, none of the different legume species present an alternative for white clover.