An overview on portuguese mediterranean annual-type pastures

• Author(s): Almeida, J.P.F.
• Date: 2002
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/1468
• Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
• Subject(s): Mediterranean pastures; sward; Subterranean clover; water stress; extensive grassland
• Document Type: Lecture
• Language: English

Description

Portuguese grazing systems are based on extensive grasslands with low stocking rates, on acid, shallow and low fertility soils. Natural pastures represent 97% from total grassland. Experiments showed that fertilisation and subterranean clover sward establishment increase yield significantly. However, farmers did not adapt these procedures. In a more detailed analysis, those methods are not efficient along the whole year, depending on an apparent water limitation for pasture growth due to rainfall regime. Under this scenario, we identify open fields for research aiming stable legume based systems.