Semi-natural grasslands of the Non Valley (Eastern Italian Alps): Agronomic and environmental value of traditional and new Alpine hay-meadow types

•Alpine meadows are currently much more intensively managed than 50 years ago.•New species poor meadows have mostly replaced the traditional, species-rich grasslands.•Cutting-fertilizer imbalance produces low-quality hay and nutrient surpluses.•Mountain grassland soils do not easily accumulate nutrient surpluses.

Semi-natural Alpine grasslands represent an important Western European ecosystem but recent agricultural intensification has substantially changed their characteristics. The extent to which this ecosystem may have been compromised are quantified using a combination of farm, soil and botanical attributes collected for 48 hay-meadows over 2 years in the Non Valley (Eastern Italian Alps).Due to the wide range of estimated nutrient balances meadow type diversity is high but the trend is for the creation of productive but species-poor meadows at the expense of low-intensity but species diverse ones. Currently the typical Arrhenatherum elatius grasslands are less species-rich and Bromus erectus ones, traditionally not fertilized, are now often subject to low fertilisation. Yields can be high (up to 10.5 t d.m. ha−1 year−1 at about 1000 m a.s.l.) but, due to the generally late first cut and low cutting frequency, these provided reduced forage quality sometimes accompanied by excessively high potassium concentrations. Forage quality is not generally sufficient for highly productive dairy cattle, so that supplementary feeding is required. Reduced cutting frequency and traditional hay-making also limit the efficient removal of nutrient inputs with annual surpluses up to 245, 63 and 293 kg ha−1 for N, P and K respectively. The combination of sandy soil texture and sloping ground do not favour nutrient retention therefore increasing the potential risk for the wider environment. Reducing the trend of genetic cattle improvement towards high milk production and replacement of the traditional Brown Swiss breed with Friesian Holstein, more efficient forage harvesting and higher cutting frequency could greatly improve the environmental sustainability of new meadow types. However, biodiversity conservation can only be achieved if enough of the extensive grassland is maintained coupled with appropriate management of intensive meadows.