Evolution of production and forage quality in sown meadows of a mountain area inside Parmesan cheese consortium
Laen...
Kuupäev
2021
Kättesaadav alates
Autorid
Argenti, G.
Parrini, S.
Staglianò, N.
Bozzi, R.
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Abstrakt
Sown meadows, encompassing alfalfa and grass-legume mixtures, are the forage crops
on which is based Parmesan cheese production system in the mountain area of the Apennines
(central Italy). These grassland types experience, during their development, deep changes in terms
of production potentiality, botanical composition and forage quality, thus these meadows have to
be periodically renewed to guarantee adequate productive and qualitative performances. To have
an accurate assessment of this evolution along time, a survey was performed in different mountain
farms inside the Parmesan cheese consortium, analysing alfalfa meadows and grass-legumes
mixtures of different ages. Grasslands were monitored during 2019, performing three samplings
during growing season. Aboveground biomass production, botanical composition and crude
protein content were collected during the survey. Results permitted to evaluate the level of
production decrease along years, the evolution of analysed parameters among cutting dates and
the dependence of productive and qualitative features on botanical composition and presence of
sown species in the swards. Results were useful to hypothesize the composition of future
mixtures, to improve management issues and to delineate the possible duration of sown meadows
for the area with respect to different purposes in terms of desired productive or qualitative
objectives.
Kirjeldus
Received: January 5th, 2021 ; Accepted: April 7th, 2021 ; Published: May 4th, 2021 ; Correspondence: giovanni.argenti@unifi.it
Märksõnad
alfalfa, botanical composition, forage, grass-legume mixtures, mowing, articles