Rational maintenance of pastures and choice of renovation techniques

摘要

More than ever, pasture maintenance has become necessary to optimize agricultural production or to manage rural areas, and this includes even the rehabilitation of idle or of fallowed land. A good diagnosis is an essential prerequisite for determining which maintenance or renovation technique to apply. Depending on the live-stock requirements and on the constraints met with, the diagnosis leads either to the improvement of the pasture by adequate management and fertilization (possibly with weeding and overseeding), or, in case of heavy deterioration, to sward destruction (by weeding before winter or ploughing), followed later by direct seeding or simplified seeding. When pastures are continually under absence of management and when the stocking rate is reduced, this will lead to abandonment and then to idle land. The observation of two pastures in Normandy for 9 years showed that abandonment leads to degradation at a rate all the greater as the forage potential was higher. Intensive grazing followed by overseeding may restore the pasture's production if the sward is not too much degraded (presence of interesting species a-nd absence of shrubs); otherwise, chopping will be necessary before reseeding,The flexibility and biodiversity-of permanent pastures is of particular interest.