Advances in temperate grassland science and management / edited by Agnes van den Pol-van Dasselaar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

van den Pol-van Dasselaar, Agnes.

Series:

Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science, 2059-6944 ; 169

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agriculture.

Forests and forestry.

Forestry.

Local Subjects:

Agriculture.

Forestry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (645 pages)

Edition:

1st ed. 2025.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK : Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited : Imprint: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, 2025.

Summary:

While grasslands face a number of challenges, such as encroachment from intensive farming and the impact of climate change, there is a growing recognition of the key role they can play in supporting the transition to more resilient, sustainable and circular agricultural systems. Advances in temperate grassland science and management reviews the wealth of research addressing these challenges and opportunities, focussing on the role of grasslands in agricultural systems and, in particular, in improving livestock health and product quality. It summarises recent research on grassland composition and management in optimising the contribution it can make, including regional case studies on grassland management in practice. This book builds on a successful earlier volume by Burleigh Dodds Science: Improving grassland and pasture management in temperate agriculture (2018).

Contents:

Cover

Half Title Page

Series Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Series List Page

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1 The role of grasslands in agricultural systems

Chapter 1 The societal role of grasslands: the case of northwest Europe

1 Introduction

2 Ecosystem services and grasslands

3 Comparing arable and grassland ecosystem services: permanent, temporary and semi-natural grasslands

4 Comparing ecosystem services: food production

5 Comparing ecosystem services: soil quality

6 Comparing ecosystem services: water consumption and regulation

7 Comparing ecosystem services: carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions

8 Comparing ecosystem services: ammonia

9 Comparing ecosystem services: water quality

10 Comparing ecosystem services: biodiversity

11 Discussion: land use changes

12 Conclusion and future trends

13 Where to look for further information

14 References

Chapter 2 Grasslands and climate change

2 Impacts of climate change on grasslands

3 Measuring the impact of climate change on grasslands

4 Adaptation: challenges and opportunities

5 Conclusion

6 Where to look for further information

7 References

Chapter 3 Harnessing the power of grasslands in mixed farming/crop-livestock systems

2 Mixed farming/crop-livestock integration

3 The role of grasslands in the context of mixed farming

4 Management to enhance grassland utilization within mixed systems

5 Case studies

6 Future trends in research

7 Conclusion

8 Acknowledgement

9 Where to look for further information

10 References

Part 2 Grassland dynamics and management

Chapter 4 Plant-soil-animal interactions and nutrient cycling in grazed grasslands

2 Nutrient pools and fuxes in grazed pastures.

3 Excreta deposition and nutrient return in grazed pastures

4 Mitigating nitrous oxide emissions: nitrifcation inhibitors

5 Litter deposition and decomposition in grazed pastures

6 Effciency of nutrient cycling in grazed pastures

7 Role of soil fauna and microbial communities in pasture-nutrient cycling

8 The role of nutrient cycling in the sustainability of grazed grasslands

9 Use of nutrient budgets to guide management of grazing systems: the case of nitrogen and phosphorus

10 Case study: nitrogen cycling in nitrogen-fertilized grass and grass-legume pastures

11 Conclusion and future trends

12 Where to look for further information

13 References

Chapter 5 Advances in grazing management

2 Grassland dry matter production

3 Grass measurement adoption

4 Grazing infrastructure

5 Grass growth prediction

6 Grass clover swards

7 Alternative sward species

8 Grazing management infuences on grass quality

9 Grass breeding applications

10 Grass variety selection indices

11 Sward persistence

12 Climate adaptation

13 Conclusion and future trends

Chapter 6 The use of precision technologies in grassland management

2 Grassland-based milk production systems

3 Traditional grassland measurement methods

5 Measuring grass quality

6 Data aggregation and processing

7 Interoperability and linkages

8 Grassland management databases

9 Using precision technology to enhance on-farm decision support and automation

10 Decision support systems (DSS) for grassland management

11 Virtual fencing

12 DSS for sustainability assessment

13 Precision technologies for dairy herd management

14 Case study

15 Conclusion and future trends

16 Where to look for further information

17 References.

Chapter 7 The long path from data collection to sustainable grassland management

2 Assessing the pros and cons of different techniques for data collection

3 Data collection on feed production, grazing behaviour, and resource use

4 Data collection on climate change interactions

5 Data collection on biodiversity

6 Case study: Assessment of management options

8 Where to look for further information

9 Acknowledgements

10 Declaration of funding/Confict of interest statement

11 References

Chapter 8 From data collection to decision support tools for the sustainable management of grasslands

2 Heterogeneous data about grasslands: an evergrowing resource

3 Tools to analyse grassland data and support management decisions at different levels

4 Case study: semi-natural grasslands in the mountain and Mediterranean areas of France

5 Contribution of research in decision-making in grasslands

9 References

Chapter 9 Advances in managing grassland weeds

2 Weeds: a threat or an opportunity?

3 Nature-based solutions for weed management

4 Weeds and management within models of sustainable agriculture

5 Case study: weed management in alfalfa as a forage crop

6 Future trends in weed management

7 Acknowledgments

8 References

Part 3 Grasslands, grazing and animal nutrition: effects on health and product quality

Chapter 10 Quantifying forage quality to improve nutrient use effciency in ruminant feeding

2 Evaluation of the nutritive value of forages

3 Ruminal forage protein degradation

4 Protein and carbohydrate fractionation to evaluate different forage crops.

5 Estimation of the energy e a wide range of stressors, including darkness, lack of oxygen, elevate value of forages

10 Secondary plant compounds in forage plants

11 Conclusion

12 References

Chapter 11 The effects of pasture grazing on milk quality1

2 Milk fat composition in relation to human health

3 Lipids in feed and their fate in the digestive tract: conversions in the rumen and mammary gland

4 Grazing as opposed to stall-feeding

5 Effect of feeding system

6 Effect of forage species on milk: grasses, legumes, and botanically diverse pastures

7 Seasonal variation in fatty acid composition in milk from cows in pasture-based systems

8 Trends in grazing and dairy farming systems and implications for milk fatty acid composition

9 Conclusion

10 Abbreviations

Chapter 12 Grasslands and One Health: the human health component

2 A species-adapted diet for humans: the evolutionary argument

3 The grassland-derived diet of hunter-gatherers

4 The impact of the development of farming on the human diet

5 Industrialisation and the human diet

6 Case study: reclaiming health with grassland-derived foods

7 Conclusion and future trends

9 Declaration of interest statement

Part 4 Developments in botanical composition of grasslands

Chapter 13 Improving biodiversity in agricultural grassland systems

2 Grassland management practices and biodiversity

3 Enhancing biodiversity on grasslands

4 Grassland biodiversity at farm and landscape levels

5 Case study

6 Conclusion

7 Future trends in research

8 Acknowledgements

10 References.

Chapter 14 Designing and developing multispecies swards for future grassland systems

1 Introduction: grasslands in agriculture

2 Historical context and developments in grassland management

3 Renewed interest in grass-legume systems

4 Policy-driven shifts in grassland management

5 Emergence and potential of multispecies swards

6 Design principles for multispecies swards

7 Practical aspects of establishing and managing multispecies swards

8 Conclusion

Chapter 15 Plantain (Plantago lanceolata): from weed to multi-functional component in sustainable dairy-farm systems

2 Nitrogen loss from grazed pastures

3 Introduction to narrow-leaved plantain (

4 Effect of plantain on nitrogen leaching

5 Case study: use of plantain to reduce nitrogen leaching at catchment scale

6 Effect of plantain on nitrous oxide emissions

7 Future research trends

10 Where to look for further information

Chapter 16 Advances in Epichloë endophyte plant secondary metabolites in grasslands

2 Epichloë biology

3 Benefts for the host grass

4 Secondary metabolites produced by endophyte- grass associations

5 Toxicity to invertebrate pests

6 Toxicity to livestock for major cultivated grasses

7 Tall fescue endophyte toxicity across the globe

8 Ryegrass endophyte toxicity across the globe

9 Livestock toxicity for other

infected grasses

10 Reducing toxicity to livestock

of annual ryegrasses and meadow fescue

11 Mammalian safe

12 Endophyte effects on food quality and safety

13 Beyond pasture grasses

14 Genetic manipulation

15 Conclusion

16 Future trends

17 Where to look for further information

18 References

endophyte plant secondary metabolites in grasslands

Advances in.

Part 5 Case studies.

ISBN:

1-80146-904-0

1-80146-903-2

9781801469036

OCLC:

1574115559