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Proceedings 7th European Conference on Ecological Restoration Avignon, France, 23-27/08/2010
1
THE EU-SALVERE PROJECT: PRODUCING NATIVE SEEDS
USING THRESHING MATERIAL AND SPECIES-RICH HAY
FROM GRASSLANDS
ANITA KIRMER & SABINE TISCHEW
1 Department for nature conservation and landscape planning, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany,
a.kirmer@loel.hs-anhalt.de, s.tischew@loel.hs-anhalt.de
Abstract: “Semi-natural grassland as a source for biodiversity improvement (SALVERE)” is the name of
a project within the Central Europe program that started on January 1st, 2009. Until December 2011,
eight project partners from six EU countries work together: University of Padua, Department of
Environmental Agronomy and Crop Production (Michele Scotton /lead partner) – Italy; Research and
Education Centre for Agriculture Raumberg – Gumpenstein (Bernhard Krautzer) & Kärntner Saatbau
GmbH (Christian Tamegger) – both Austria; OSEVA PRO Ltd, Grassland Research Station (Magdalena
Sevcikova) – Czech Republic; Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (Sabine Tischew) & Rieger-
Hofmann GmbH (Ernst Rieger) – both Germany; Agricultural Research Centre (Miriam Kizeková) –
Slovakia; Poznan University (Piotr Golinski) – Poland. The aim of this project is to promote the use of
native seed and plant material in restoration and to create species-rich grasslands typical for the concerned
region. In addition, guidelines for seed production and harvesting on potential donor sites as well as best
practise methods for the establishment of species-rich grasslands will be developed to enhance the
exchange of knowledge about ecological restoration all over Europe.
Keywords: reclamation of former agricultural land, mesophile grasslands, harvesting techniques, restoration
methods, green hay, on-site threshing material, seed stripping, seed mixtures, greenhouse experiments
Introduction
In Central Europe, several studies have highlighted the extremely high biodiversity potential of
extensively or less intensively managed semi-natural grasslands (e.g. Stoate et al. 2009,
Korneck et al. 1998) and their steady decline in quality and quantity during the last decades (e.g.
Kiehl et al. 2010, Klimek et al. 2007, Riecken et al. 2006).
The SALVERE project utilises local species-rich semi-natural grasslands as a seed source using
the harvested seed and plant material to restore species-poor grasslands or to establish new
species-rich grasslands on former arable land, on road embankments, on ski slopes, in mined
sites, and on compensation sites. Besides the enhancement of best practise methods for harvest
and re-vegetation, seed potential of selected donor sites and composition and germinability of
harvested seed mixtures were analysed in laboratory and greenhouse experiments.
Figure 1. Arrhenatherion trials one year after implementation – left: Liptovksá Teplička / Slovakia,
September 2010 (A. Kirmer); right: Strenzfeld Campus / Germany, August 2010 (S. Tischew).
Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Development - Establishing Links Across Frontiers
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Materials and methods
In summer 2009, the project partners implemented 17 trials comprising different donor sites and
different target plant communities: Arrhenatherion (all partners, 15 trials), Bromion (4 trials),
Molinion (2 trials), Deschampsion (1 trial). Table 1 shows the site characteristics of eight
selected Arrhenatherion trials.
Table 1. Site characteristics of eight selected Arrhenatherion trials in the SALVERE project.
Former land use Arable land Degraded grassland
Country Italy Germany Slovakia Poland Austria Austria Slovakia Poland
Longitude (E) 11° 35’ 52’’ 11° 42’ 09’’ 19°02’44” 16° 17’ 14° 06’ 05’’ 14°04’18’’ 20°41‘ 16° 18’
Latitude (N) 45° 41’ 30’’ 51° 49’ 25’’ 48°44’57” 52° 26’ 47° 29’ 41’’ 46°32’04’’ 48°55’ 52° 22’
Altitude (m a.s.l.) 79 85 647 86 740 500 960 85
Mean yearly
rainfall (mm)
1177 469 798 588 1014 1054 579 588
Mean yearly
temperature (°C)
13.3 9.2 8.0 9.0 7.0 7.5 5.9 9.0
pH value (in H2O) 7.6 8.0 7.0 5.0 6.3 6.5 6.7 7.0
± SD 0.09 0.03 0.05 0.01 - - 0.04 -
Plant available P
(mg per 100 g soil)
1.5 4.1 7.2 13.5 5.5 5.6 0.4 13.9
± SD 0.8 2.3 0.7 0.5 - - 0.04 -
Total nitrogen
(mass-%)
0.18 0.2 2.03 0.15 0.15 - 3.51 0.12
SD 0.14 0.01 0.01 0.01 - - 0.01 -
Total carbonate
(mass-%)
0.5 2.2 1.5 0.9 - 1.7 3.3 0.7
± SD - 0.2 0.2 0.1 - - 0.2 -
Type of soil
preparation
ploughing,
harrowing
harrowing ploughing,
harrowing
ploughing,
harrowing
ploughing harrowing none ploughing,
harrowing
Date of
implementation
Aug-Sep 2009 Aug 2009 Jul 09 Aug 2009 Jul-Aug 2009 Jul- Aug 2009 Jul 09 Aug 2009
Methods used for
re-vegetation
GH, DH, OST,
SS
GH, OST,
GH+S, OST+S
GH, DH GH, OST,
SS
GH, OST,
GH+S, OST+S
GH, DH GH, DH GH, OST,
SS
The following re-vegetation methods were used for the introduction of target species:
- Green hay (GH): Mowing of species-rich grasslands and harvesting of fresh material. Ratio
donor : receptor site depends on biomass production and seed content of donor site (varies
between 3:1 and 1:2).
- Dry hay (DH): Comparable to the green hay method but the material was dried on the site
(“haymaking”) before collection.
- On-site threshing (OST): Mowing and immediate threshing (“on-site”) of the material with
a thresher. Application rate depends on seed content in threshing material and varies
between 5 and 20 g /m².
- Seed stripping (SS): Stripping of the vegetation with special equipment (pulled by tractor or
by hand). Application rate depends on seed content in the threshing material and varies
between 5 and 20 g /m².
- Seed mixtures from propagation (S): Seeds for propagation are collected and multiplied
within the concerned region. The mixture should consist of 6-10 grasses and 10-15 herbs
(minimum standard). The recommended sowing density is 2-5 g /m² and the number of
seeds per species depend on the thousand grain weight of the seeds (approx. 1000-3000
seeds /m²). This method was used in combination with GH and OST.
In addition, several laboratory and greenhouse experiments were carried out:
- Analysis of seed potential and biomass production in donor sites (all partners)
- Analysis of seed production of selected species in Arrhenatherion donor sites (all partners)
- Germination tests with selected species from Arrhenatherion donor sites (all partners)
- Composition and germinability of seed mixtures (all partners)
Proceedings 7th European Conference on Ecological Restoration Avignon, France, 23-27/08/2010
3
- Separation experiments and effect of storage on the germinability of seed mixtures (4
partners)
In Germany, on-site threshing material and green hay was sampled and the material was used
for germination experiments in greenhouses with nine repetitions for each methods (Eis 2010).
Reference value is the amount of harvested material on 1 m² donor site (on-site threshing: 10.2 g
per m² (SD ± 3.1), green hay: 583.7 g per m² (SD ± 113.8)). Green hay was threshed carefully to
reduce the amount of stems and leaves without loosing seeds. The material was applied on 1 m²
- trays with a basic layer of 3 cm Isoself® and a 4-5 cm layer of sterile potting soil. The
experiment started on the 2nd of March 2010. Germinated seedlings were determined, plucked
and counted in regular intervals. The experiment will be continued until the 2nd of March 2011.
Results and discussion
A first evaluation of data showed that the number of transferred species depends on species-
richness on donor sites. There was no significance relationship to other parameters such as
method of re-vegetation or site characteristics. If we considered all species on the variants the
former land use proved to be significant in addition to the number of species on donor sites. On
the degraded grassland sites, residual species increase the species number on receptor sites.
Restoration method, climatic and soil parameters are not significant, yet.
Linear regression
standardized
coefficients
BSEBeta
(constant) 8.84 6.32 0.187
species number on
donor site 0.27 0.11 0.57 0.031
a. Dependent variable: number of transferred species
Note: R² = 0.27
signifikance
step 1
model
not standardized
coefficients
Linear regression
standardized
coefficients
BSEBeta
(constant) 1.04 17.25 0.953
species number on
donor site 0.75 0.30 0.58 0.029
(constant) -1.84 13.92 0.897
species number on
donor site 0.97 0.26 0.75 0.003
Former land use -18.77 6.84 -0.55 0.019
a. Dependent variable: number of species per variant
Note: R² = 0.28 for step 1, R² = 0.54 for step 2
step 1
step 2
model
not standardized
coefficients
signifikance
Figure 2. Significant relations to the dependent variables number of transferred species (left) and number
of species per variant (right).
Results from greenhouse experiments with on-site threshing material and green hay are shown
until the 7th of July 2010 (Fig. 3). In general, target species comprised approximately 90 % of
the number of all germinated species. In on-site threshing material, the content of germinable
seeds is slightly higher than in green hay variants but the difference is not significant. In relation
to the number of target species found on the donor site, in the greenhouse experiment 53 %
germinated from on-site threshing material and 45 % from green hay (unpubl. data). For both
methods, the number of germinated species is quite similar.
Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Development - Establishing Links Across Frontiers
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0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
all spec ies only target species
Average number of germinable seeds p er m² donor site
on-site threshing green hay
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
all spec ies only target species
Average number of germinated species
on-site threshing green hay
ONEWAY ANOVA
sum of squares df mean squares F Signifikance
Between groups 2.72 1 2.72 0.62 0.44
Within groups 69.78 16 4.36
total 72.50 17
Between groups 5.56 1 5.56 1.70 0.21
Within groups 52.44 16 3.28
total 58.00 17
Between groups 159537.18 1 159537.18 0.85 0.37
Within groups 2996226.54 16 187264.16
total 3155763.72 17
Between groups 140238.08 1 140238.08 0.78 0.39
Within groups 2889149,54 16 180571.85
total 3029387.62 17
number of
species
number of target
species
number of
seedlings
number of
seedlings from
target species
Figure 3. Comparison of different
parameters (number of germinated
species, number of germinated target
species, number of seedlings, number of
seedlings from target species) between
the methods „on-site threshing” and
„green hay” in greenhouse experiments
in Germany. Reference value is the
material harvested on one square meter
donor site.
Conclusions
Harvesting of species-rich grasslands is an effective way to obtain regional seed mixtures for
restoration and re-vegetation. On-site threshing and green hay are effective harvesting methods
for seeds and plant material. First assessments of the data sampled in the first vegetation period
after implementation showed that species-richness of donor sites increases restoration success.
Greenhouse experiments with material from on-site threshing and green hay demonstrated the
extremely high seed potential of harvested seed and plant material. After four months, 53 %
(on-site threshing) and 45 % (green hay) of the target species from the donor site were able to
germinate. Differences between harvesting methods are not significant, yet. Whereas green hay
is easier to harvest (tractor with rotary mower and loader wagon), material from on-site
threshing is bulk reduced and can be stored more easily for later use.
Acknowledgements
The Project SALVERE is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Program and co-
financed by the European Regional Development Funds (European Territorial Cooperation).
References
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