Grassland systems in Switzerland with a main focus on sown grasslands

Lüscher, Andreas; Grieder, Christoph; Huguenin-Elie, Olivier; Klaus, V.; Reidy, Beat; Schneider, Manuel K.; Schubiger, Franz; Suter, Daniel; Suter, Matthias; Kölliker, Roland (2019). Grassland systems in Switzerland with a main focus on sown grasslands In: Improving sown grasslands through breeding and management : proceedings of the Joint 20th Symposium of the European Grassland Federation and the 33rd Meeting of the EUCARPIA Section 'Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses'. Grassland Science in Europe: Vol. 24 (pp. 3-16). European Grassland Federation (EGF)

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Grasslands dominate Swiss agriculture and cover nearly 80% of the country’s agriculturally utilised area. They form the basis for ruminant livestock production through the provision of high-quality roughage which accounts for three quarters of the total dry matter of dairy cow rations, as averaged over the whole country. While permanent grasslands dominate in mountainous and less favourable regions, sown grasslands form an important part of the crop rotation (1/3) in the lowlands. Sown grasslands for intensive forage production typically consist of mixtures of 3 to 7 grass and legume species, taking advantage of increased dry matter yield through overyielding or transgressive overyielding, complementary forage quality of the different species, weed suppression and symbiotic N2 fixation. The Swiss-Standard-Mixtures System involves development and testing of species mixtures adapted to a broad range of purposes and environmental conditions. These mixtures rely on the availability of high yielding cultivars with appropriate competitive ability and optimal forage quality. Switzerland’s forage crop breeding programme targets the improvement of the twelve prevalent forage grass and legume species including ryegrasses, fescues and clovers. Breeding research focusing on elucidating the genetic control of important traits and the development of genomics-assisted breeding tools ensures efficient breeding of improved cultivars. Continuation of the intense collaboration in research for forage plant breeding and grassland management, with involvement of all the actors, will be key to adapt sown grasslands to future challenges and demands.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Resource-efficient agricultural production systems School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture
Name:	Lüscher, Andreas; Grieder, Christoph; Huguenin-Elie, Olivier; Klaus, V.; Reidy, Beat0000-0002-8619-0209; Schneider, Manuel K.; Schubiger, Franz; Suter, Daniel; Suter, Matthias and Kölliker, Roland
Subjects:	Q Science > QK Botany S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) S Agriculture > SB Plant culture
ISBN:	978-3-033-07278-7
Series:	Grassland Science in Europe
Publisher:	European Grassland Federation (EGF)
Language:	English
Submitter:	Lukas Blaser
Date Deposited:	12 Jan 2020 19:20
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2023 13:56
Additional Information:	Die Erlaubnis, diese PDF-Datei im ARBOR-Repository zu veröffentlichen, wurde eingeholt
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.9075
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/9075