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Potential food production from forage legume-based-systems in Europe: an overview
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2009
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potential food prod.pdf
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J.L. Peyraud, A. Le Gall, and A. Lüscher. Potential food production from forage legume-based-systems in Europe: an overview. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research 48: 115–135, 2009
Abstract
Intensification of EU livestock farming systems has been accompanied by the development of maize silage and intensively fertilised grasses at the expense of forage
legume crops. However in the new context of agriculture, the development of forage
legumes constitutes one of the pillars for future livestock farming systems with high
environmental and economical performances. Yield benefits of grass-clover mixtures
are equivalent fertiliser N inputs of 150 to 350 kg/ha, and productive grass-clover
mixtures can fix 100 to 380 kg N per hectare symbiotically from the atmosphere.
Animal intake of legumes is high and the rate of decline of legume nutritional
quality with advancing maturity is less than for grasses, especially in the case of
white clover, which makes mixed pastures easier to manage. Animal performances
at grazing are identical or higher on clover-enriched pastures. Due to their high
protein concentration, conserved forage legumes fit well with maize silage. Forage
legumes increase the concentration of beneficial α-linolenic acid in ruminant products.
Environmental balance of forage legumes is positive. Increasing the proportion
of white clover at the expense of mineral N fertilisation can reduce the risk of
nitrate leaching. Because forage legumes only require solar energy to fix N from the
air, they also reduce energy consumption and associated impacts. They contribute
to reduce the global warming potential of livestock systems by reducing emission
of enteric methane and nitrous oxide from pasture and crop production. As an
element of arable crop rotations, grass-clover leys suppress pests, diseases and
weeds, improve soil structure and prevent soil erosion and nitrate leaching.
Nevertheless, forage legumes have some limitations: expensive to harvest, difficulties of conservation, management of the associations. To take full advantage of forage legumes in the future, new research and development are required as well as financial support from the EU.