Clipping management and its effect on the composition and height of low-input turf

Abstract

The eff ect of mulching and moving management on the height and the composition of low-input turf was studied in Vatin research station of fodder crops regularly in May, during years 2007-2012. The experiment was established in 2006 with using a clover-grass lawn mixture (95% grasses, 5% clover crops). The experimental plots were not fertilized and the patches were mown or mulched fi ve times a year to a sward height of 40 mm. The achieved results show that mulching aff ected the composition of the low-input turf very signifi cantly. On the average of six-year monitoring, the representation of grasses in the sward of the mulched variant was 66.9%, which was a signifi cantly higher share of grasses than in the mown variant (52.3%). By contrast, the share of clover crops in the mown variant (36.6%) was signifi cantly higher than in the mulched variant (21.3%). Mulching signifi cantly aff ected neither the infestation by weeds nor the total sward cover. Mean height of the cut sward was non-signifi cantly higher by 10.1% in the mulched variant with the sward heights being 210.9mm in the mown variant and 232.3mm in the mulched variant.