Floral Composition and Productivity of Leys and Permanent Grasslands in Baltic Livestock Farms

Vilma Živatkauskienė, Giedrius Petrauskas (), Vilma Kemešytė, Gražina Statkevičiūtė, Vaclovas Stukonis and Eglė Norkevičienė
Additional contact information
Vilma Živatkauskienė: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania
Giedrius Petrauskas: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania
Vilma Kemešytė: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania
Gražina Statkevičiūtė: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania
Vaclovas Stukonis: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania
Eglė Norkevičienė: Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Kėdainiai District, LT-583 44 Akademija, Lithuania

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Agricultural reforms, land consolidation, and the abandonment of livestock farming effects grassland ecosystems worldwide. Utilising data from four medium-sized livestock farms across different regions in Lithuania, we assess floristic composition, productivity, and grass quality in both permanent grasslands and leys. Our findings reveal significant differences in flora diversity, with 120 species identified in permanent grasslands compared to only 20 in leys. Additionally, dry matter yield was notably higher in leys (13.97 t ha −1 ) than in permanent grasslands (5.66 t ha −1 ), underscoring the productivity potential of leys. The crude protein levels remained stable across both types, but leys demonstrated significantly lower neutral detergent fibre content, indicating better forage quality. However, the high biodiversity of permanent grasslands supports ecosystem services.

Keywords: agricultural impact; species richness; sustainability (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/12/2115/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/12/2115/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:12:p:2115-:d:1527224

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().