Relationship between soil and biomass chemical properties, herbage yield and sward height in cut and unmanaged mountain hay meadow (Polygono–Trisetion)

Little is known about the effects of either long-term cutting with herbage removal or no management on the nutritional status of Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra meadows. We asked how management affected soil and herbage chemical properties, herbage yield and sward height. The experiment with cutting (C) and unmanaged (U) treatments was undertaken from 1999 to 2009 in the Jizera Mts., Czech Republic. Soil and herbage samples were taken from 2003 to 2009.Potassium was the only nutrient for which the soil concentration decreased under the C treatment. Soil K concentration was 175 and 210 mg kg−1 in the C and U treatments, respectively, in the last year of the experiment. Herbage yield as well as sward height were significantly higher in the unmanaged than in the cutting treatment in all years. Concentrations of P and K in the herbage biomass were lower in the cutting than in the unmanaged treatment, but concentrations of N were lower only in some years. Concentrations of Ca and Mg were not affected by the different treatments. A strong positive relationship between concentration in soil and herbage was recorded only for K.In contrast to K, ten years of contrasting management was too short a period to affect plant-available (Mehlich III) P, Ca and Mg concentrations, but it was long enough to affect herbage chemical properties and yield.