Above and Belowground Relative Yield Total of Clover–Ryegrass Mixtures Exceed One in Wet and Dry Years

Inga Dirks, Juliane Streit and Catharina Meinen
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Inga Dirks: Department of Crop Sciences, Division Agronomy/Crop Science, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany
Juliane Streit: Seed Quality Research, Strube Research GmbH & Co. KG. Hauptstraße 1, 38387 Söllingen, Germany
Catharina Meinen: Department of Crop Sciences, Division Agronomy/Crop Science, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Grassland mixtures hold the potential for increasing biomass and productivity. In a field experiment, monocultures and mixtures of eight white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) genotypes and perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) were analyzed over three years (2015, 2016, and 2018) for their species-specific aboveground and belowground biomass. Roots were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to identify species-specific root mass, vertical distribution, and belowground relative yield total (RYT). Aboveground biomass decreased strongly from 2015 to 2018. Aboveground and belowground RYT were always significantly higher than one. Aboveground biomass overyielded in 2016 and 2018 compared to monocultures. Monocultures of perennial ryegrass displayed a significantly higher proportion of roots in shallow soil layers than white clover in two of the three examined years. In mixtures, these differences in vertical root distribution between both species were not present and perennial ryegrass, and white clover occupied similar vertical niches in 2015 and 2016. Interestingly, in the dry year 2018, white clover had a higher proportion of roots in shallow soil layers than perennial ryegrass in mixtures.

Keywords: intercropping; roots; ryegrass; white clover; pasture; vertical root distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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