For this purpose, various experiments were carried out on the BAL Gumpenstein test areas between 1994 and 1998, most of which were installed as rotational fallow areas in the crop rotations of the respective arable crops; only at the Bischofshofen site was one field converted into permanent fallow land.
In 1994, part of the long-term fallow trial was set up in Bischofshofen, consisting of 5 different variants. The respective mixtures were put together individually for the location. For technical reasons, the flower meadow could not be sown until spring 1995. The mixtures for rotational fallow were either taken from the literature or used based on personal recommendations.
Of greatest interest were the extent of weed infestation and the distribution and occurrence of certain plants within the sown variants. To determine this, plant identification recordings were carried out in each experiment, in which the degree of cover by green plants was first recorded, followed by the percentage distribution of the plants. The plant species sown were also recorded, which provides a good overview of the ratio of desirable and undesirable plants. In each experiment, the self-greening variant served as a comparison variant, with a very specific flora forming depending on the location. For operational reasons, the rotational fallows were all spring sown crops, mostly consisting of annual plants. Nevertheless, some of these experiments were left over the winter, rated again in the spring and the development and changes in the plant population were closely monitored. The variants were partly composed of clover-grass mixtures, partly of non-legumes, with the latter group forming a dense stand. In addition, the fresh mass yield of the individual variants was determined in almost all tests, and samples were also taken for the chemical laboratory to determine the dry matter and crude protein content.