Pasture growth studies on Swiss lowland grassland in relation to grazing management

Mixtures of several forage-plant species systematically increase yields with lower fertiliser input. Higher temperatures enhance the benefits of these mixtures, making them a key component of climate-change adaptation.

A recently published paper by Agroscope gives an overview of preventive measures and non-chemical methods of controlling weeds, diseases and pests in arable farming and field vegetable cultivation.

Permanent grasslands consist of multiple species and cultivars, whose compositions change over time. Identifying such changes visually is laborious at species level and impossible at cultivar level. Two DNA-based methods were tested for this purpose.