Robustness in the mineral supply from temporary grasslands

Figures & data

Table I. Accumulations of DM (kg ha⁻¹) in white clover (WC), red clover (RC), lucerne (LU), ryegrass (RYE) and festulolium (FEST), proportion of legumes (% of DM) in the combined herbage plus the proportion of stem (% stem of DM) in grass/legumes in the first cut over two seasons under varying N supply levels (kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), each year averaged over three sampling times. Mean, n=12. Different letters indicate statistical difference between systems following a student t-test.

	N levels	WC	WC+RYE	WC+FEST	RC	RC+RYE	RC+FEST	LU	LU+RYE	LU+FEST	RYE	FEST
DM	0N	1417a	–	–	2642b	–	–	2617b	–	–	–	–
	120N	1592c	2124bc	3044a	2574ab	2704ab	3467a	3057a	3111a	3398a	–	–
	240N	–	2464c	3444ab	–	2809bc	3691ab	–	3088abc	3808a	2413c	3298abc
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2730a	3805b
%leg	0N	100	–	–	100	–	–	100	–	–	–	–
	120N	100	25.4	6.6	100	68.3	34.6	100	66.3	33.0	–	–
	240N	–	12.5	3.1	–	60.9	18.8	–	54.3	22.4	0	0
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0	0
%stem grass/legume	0N	–/0	–	–	–/14	–	–	–/47	–	–	–	–
	120N	–/0	29/0	47/0	–/14	32/16	44/18	–/48	39/46	49/46	–	–
	240N	–	31/0	48/0	–	33/14	46/18	–	39/45	48/47	30/–	47/–
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	34/–	48/–

Table II. Accumulations of macro (kg ha⁻¹) and micro (g ha⁻¹) elements in the combined herbage of white clover (WC), red clover (RC), lucerne (LU), ryegrass (RYE) and festulolium (FEST) in the first cut over two seasons under varying N supply levels (kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), each year averaged over three sampling times. Mean, n =12. Different letters indicate statistical difference between systems following a student t-test.

	N level	WC	WC+RYE	WC+FEST	RC	RC+RYE	RC+FEST	LU	LU+RYE	LU+FEST	RYE	FEST
N	0N	60.5b	–	–	108.5a	–	–	95.6ab	–	–	–	–
	120N	69bc	57c	58c	94ab	86abc	87abc	107a	94ab	82abc	–	–
	240N	–	71cd	77bc	–	103a	93ab	–	101a	101a	55d	62cd
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	73a	88b
P	0N	5.0b	–	–	9.5a	–	–	9.1ab	–	–	–	–
	120N	6.0b	6.3ab	7.2ab	9.5ab	8.5ab	9.7ab	9.9a	10.0a	10.0a	–	–
	240N	–	8.8ab	9.2ab	–	11.0ab	10.9ab	–	11.0ab	11.9a	7.5b	8.2ab
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9.6a	11.aa
K	0N	49.6a	–	–	94.7b	–	–	97.0b	–	–	–	–
	120N	60b	61b	83ab	91ab	77ab	106a	98ab	97ab	106a	–	–
	240N	–	81bc	112ab	–	103abc	124a	–	109ab	128a	72c	91abc
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	93a	131b
Ca	0N	29.0a	–	–	42.3a	–	–	37.2a	–	–	–	–
	120N	28abcd	16.4cd	14.0d	40.9a	29.4abc	25.1bcd	41.0a	31.2ab	23.2bcd	–	–
	240N	–	16.9cde	16.0de	–	30.9a	22.4bcd	–	28.8ab	23.9abc	11.1e	12.0e
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14.6a	16.8a
S	0N	3.53a	–	–	6.23a	–	–	6.52a	–	–	–	–
	120N	5.32ab	4.84b	5.11b	8.05ab	5.65ab	6.31ab	8.93a	6.81ab	6.67ab	–	–
	240N	–	7.9a	9.1a	–	9.6a	10.8a	–	10.0a	10.0a	5.1a	5.4a
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9.9a	10.8a
Mg	0N	2.86a	–	–	7.16b	–	–	5.51b	–	–	–	–
	120N	3.13cd	2.14d	2.61cd	7.03a	4.86abc	5.00abc	6.00ab	4.74abc	4.11bcd	–	–
	240N	–	3.0c	3.8bc	–	5.8a	5.2ab	–	4.9ab	5.2ab	2.0c	2.6c
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3.2a	4.3a
Fe	0N	166a	–	–	204a	–	–	175a	–	–	–	–
	120N	154a	154a	156a	185a	207a	190a	178a	270a	187a	–	–
	240N	–	177abc	176abc	–	200ab	206a	–	184abc	209a	153bc	147c
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	172a	190a
Zn	0N	39a	–	–	92b	–	–	93b	–	–	–	–
	120N	54b	51b	66b	141a	86b	80b	106ab	86b	80b	–	–
	240N	–	98abc	116ab	–	125a	143a	–	125a	143a	62c	69bc
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	117a	128a
Mn	0N	140a	–	–	156a	–	–	90a	–	–	–	–
	120N	122ab	131ab	154ab	157ab	173ab	183a	105b	123ab	157ab	–	–
	240N	–	149a	192a	–	185a	207a	–	145a	196a	163a	183a
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	202a	224a
Cu	0N	11a	–	–	28b	–	–	21ab	–	–	–	–
	120N	14b	12b	13b	32a	32a	22ab	25ab	21ab	19ab	–	–
	240N	–	18bc	19bc	–	32a	28a	–	25ab	26ab	13c	14c
	360N	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	21a	25a

Table III. Concentrations of elements in leaves and stems of legumes cultivated in pure stands (pure) or in mixtures (mix) with grasses at an N supply of 120 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Mean values, n=6–12. Units for macro elements are% and ‰ for micro elements. Different letters indicate statistical difference between systems for each legume species organ following a student t-test.

	White Clover		Red Clover				Lucerne
	Leaf		Leaf		Stem		Leaf		stem
	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix
N	4.16	4.30	4.31	4.43	3.42	3.45	4.64	4.46	2.38	2.43
P	0.276	0.313	0.294	0.309	0.325	0.369	0.328	0.321	0.251a	0.305b
K	3.05	3.07	2.66	2.63	3.56	4.01	2.31	2.42	3.54	3.71
Ca	1.95a	1.64b	1.71	1.58	1.10	1.00	1.94	1.71	0.726	0.778
S	0.216	0.224	0.207	0.209	0.157	0.172	0.293	0.286	0.105a	0.125b
Mg	0.189	0.204	0.232	0.232	0.303	0.330	0.202	0.206	0.171	0.195
Fe	10.92	10.14	6.80	7.62	3.68	3.77	7.58	8.64	2.61	3.49
Zn	3.28	2.27	5.36a	3.00b	3.96	2.86	3.24	2.87	3.00	2.66
Mn	9.26a	7.07b	8.26	7.29	2.67	2.39	5.77	5.16	1.19	1.20
Cu	0.687	0.810	0.986	1.052	0.884	0.858	0.816	0.855	0.629	0.628

Table IV. Concentrations of elements in leaves and stems of grasses in pure stands (pure) or in mixtures (mix) with legumes at an N supply of 120 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Mean values, n=6–12. Units for macro elements are% and ‰ for micro elements. Different letters indicate statistical difference between systems for each grass species organ following a student t-test.

	Perennial ryegrass				Festulolium
	Leaf		Stem		leaf		stem
	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix	Pure	Mix
N	2.80a	4.13b	1.35a	2.35b	2.67b	3.14a	1.17	1.58
P	0.305	0.332	0.268a	0.316b	0.253	0.228	0.244	0.234
K	3.15a	3.86b	2.42a	3.53b	3.36	3.35	2.43	2.63
Ca	0.543	0.567	0.204a	0.305a	0.569	0.606	0.181	0.220
S	0.208a	0.288b	0.108a	0.155b	0.189	0.212	0.089	0.105
Mg	0.107	0.111	0.071a	0.097b	0.113	0.117	0.076	0.088
Fe	7.26a	8.87b	2.21a	3.94b	6.24	7.48	1.67	2.43
Zn	2.49a	3.88b	2.24a	3.94b	1.83	2.69	1.99	2.99
Mn	8.43a	7.30b	6.19	6.43	7.02a	6.21b	5.62	5.50
Cu	0.578a	0.832b	0.319a	0.501b	0.541b	0.858a	0.331	0.384

Figure 1.  Dynamic developments in nitrogen accumulation around optimal defoliation time in six grass–legume mixtures with one N supply level (240 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) for two consecutive years.

Figure 2.  Dynamic developments in phosphorus accumulation around optimal defoliation time in six grass-legume mixtures with one N supply level (240 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) for two consecutive years.

Figure 3.  Dynamic developments in nitrogen concentration around optimal defoliation time in six grass–legume mixtures with one N supply level (240 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) for two consecutive years.

Figure 4.  Dynamic developments in phosphorus concentration around optimal defoliation time in six grass-legume mixtures with one N supply level (240 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) for two consecutive years.