Manipulation of sward diversity is a more effective management strategy than addition of microbial inoculants in intensively managed grassland
| dc.contributor.author | Ikoyi, Israel | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Duff, Aoife M. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Finn, John A. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Wall, David P. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Kostic, Tanja | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Lucic-Mercy, Eva | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Sessitsch, Angela | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Brennan, Fiona | en |
| dc.contributor.funder | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-06T14:43:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-05T11:01:24Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-06T14:43:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-07-24 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2024-08-05T10:01:29Z | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Background and aims: Diversifying grassland sward composition and application of microbial inoculants are potential alternative routes to facilitate enhanced nutrient acquisition by plants, but their relative effects have been rarely tested in grasslands. In a two-year field experiment, we investigated the impact of inoculants and sward types on forage yield, nutrient uptake, and the soil microbiome. Methods: We implemented a fully factorial experiment with inoculants (eight levels; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN and Bacillus sp. P5 (P5), applied singly and in combination), and sward types (three levels: grass-only, grass and legume, mixture of grass, legume, and herb) as the two factors. Results: In both years, there was a very strong effect of sward type, with the grass + legume and grass + legume + herb swards having much higher yields and nutrient uptake (N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu) than grass-only. Generally, there was no effect of the inoculants on yield and nutrient uptake, with limited exceptions involving AMF + P5. The best-performing microbial inoculant increased forage yield by 597 kg/ha/year, while switching from grass-only to one of the other sward types increased forage yield by 3932 kg/ha/year (grass + legume) and 4693 kg/ha/year (grass + legume + herb). The inoculants persisted in plots for > 1 year after application. Inoculants and sward type significantly affected the overall prokaryotic and fungal community structures. Conclusion: Overall, under controlled field plot conditions, including legumes and herbs in a grass sward proved to be a far better farm-scale management strategy for increasing grassland forage yield and nutrient uptake than the application of microbial inoculants. | |
| dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Published Version | |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Ikoyi, I., Duff, A. M., Finn, J. A., Wall, D. P., Kostic, T., Lucic-Mercy, E., Sessitsch, A. and Brennan, F. (2024) 'Manipulation of sward diversity is a more effective management strategy than addition of microbial inoculants in intensively managed grassland', Plant and Soil, pp.1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06849-7 | |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06849-7 | en |
| dc.identifier.eissn | 1573-5036 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0032-079X | |
| dc.identifier.journaltitle | Plant and Soil | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/16180 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Springer Nature | |
| dc.relation.project | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020::IA/818368/EU/Microbiome Applications for Sustainable food systems through Technologies and EnteRprise/MASTER | |
| dc.rights | © 2024, the Authors. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Microbial biofertilizer | |
| dc.subject | Mycorrhiza | |
| dc.subject | Forage swards | |
| dc.subject | Bacillus sp. P5 | |
| dc.subject | Paraburkholderia phytofrmans PsJN | |
| dc.subject | Grassland sustainability | |
| dc.title | Manipulation of sward diversity is a more effective management strategy than addition of microbial inoculants in intensively managed grassland | en |
| dc.type | Article (peer-reviewed) |
