Harvest time determines quality and usability of biomass from lowland hay meadows. Boob, M., Elsaesser, M., Thumm, U., Hartung, J., & Lewandowski, I. Agriculture (Switzerland), MDPI AG, 2019. Cited by: 15; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access
Harvest time determines quality and usability of biomass from lowland hay meadows [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Species-rich hay meadows are usually managed extensively to maintain their biodiversity, with the harvested biomass traditionally being fed to ruminants for milk or meat production. The quality of the biomass is, however, variable, difficult to predict and often does not fulfil today’s requirements. This study established a field trial at two species-rich hay meadows to investigate the combined effect of fertilisation (none, phosphorus and potassium (PK), nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK)) and date of first cut (at different phenological stages) on biomass quality and quantity. In addition, the most suitable uses of the biomass were explored, including the alternatives biogas and combustion. After four years of the field trial, the stage of maturity at the time of first cut had a greater influence than extensive fertilisation on biomass quality. Dry matter yield (DMY) of the first cut was about 40%–60% of annual DMY (53.99 ± 12.51 dt ha−1 a−1) depending on site, fertilisation and harvest time. Fertilisation had a stronger effect than harvest time on DMY and annual methane yield. In most cases, there was no significant difference in chemical composition between biomass harvested at the end of the grass-flowering stage and at the seed-ripening stage. Thus, a late cut for hay proved to be the most flexible option. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
@ARTICLE{Boob2019,
	author = {Boob, Meike and Elsaesser, Martin and Thumm, Ulrich and Hartung, Jens and Lewandowski, Iris},
	title = {Harvest time determines quality and usability of biomass from lowland hay meadows},
	year = {2019},
	journal = {Agriculture (Switzerland)},
	volume = {9},
	number = {9},
	doi = {10.3390/agriculture9090198},
	url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85073345773&doi=10.3390%2fagriculture9090198&partnerID=40&md5=39a262470500f24bdf77681e4b48a15f},
	affiliations = {Biobased Products and Energy Crops (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, Stuttgart, 70599, Germany; Grassland Division, Grassland Management, Dairy Management, Wildlife and Fisheries Baden-Wuerttemberg, Agricultural Centre for Cattle Production, Atzenberger Weg 99, Aulendorf, 88326, Germany; Biostatistics (340c), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, Stuttgart, 70599, Germany},
	abstract = {Species-rich hay meadows are usually managed extensively to maintain their biodiversity, with the harvested biomass traditionally being fed to ruminants for milk or meat production. The quality of the biomass is, however, variable, difficult to predict and often does not fulfil today’s requirements. This study established a field trial at two species-rich hay meadows to investigate the combined effect of fertilisation (none, phosphorus and potassium (PK), nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK)) and date of first cut (at different phenological stages) on biomass quality and quantity. In addition, the most suitable uses of the biomass were explored, including the alternatives biogas and combustion. After four years of the field trial, the stage of maturity at the time of first cut had a greater influence than extensive fertilisation on biomass quality. Dry matter yield (DMY) of the first cut was about 40%–60% of annual DMY (53.99 ± 12.51 dt ha−1 a−1) depending on site, fertilisation and harvest time. Fertilisation had a stronger effect than harvest time on DMY and annual methane yield. In most cases, there was no significant difference in chemical composition between biomass harvested at the end of the grass-flowering stage and at the seed-ripening stage. Thus, a late cut for hay proved to be the most flexible option. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.},
	author_keywords = {Bioenergy; Biorefinery; Forage quality; Grassland management; Natura 2000},
	correspondence_address = {M. Boob; Biobased Products and Energy Crops (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599, Germany; email: meike.boob@uni-hohenheim.de},
	publisher = {MDPI AG},
	issn = {20770472},
	language = {English},
	abbrev_source_title = {Agric.},
	type = {Article},
	publication_stage = {Final},
	source = {Scopus},
	note = {Cited by: 15; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access}
}

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