Genetic conservation for grassland species and varieties
Changes in the management of our cultural landscape have increased rapidly in recent years. This also applies to grassland farming. Ecologically oriented, environmentally friendly, and heavily subsidy-dependent mountain farming contrasts sharply with the economic pressure for intensification and optimization in intensive grassland production areas. The unbroken trend towards increasing cutting frequency and grazing intensity – short-grass grazing has now even penetrated the Alpine region – is increasingly pushing permanent grassland stands in the Alps to the limits of their capacity. Climate, geology, topography, and traditional management practices have given rise to a multitude of diverse and species-rich grassland stands. These form the basis for the high biodiversity of plants and animals in the Alpine region. However, the proportion of extensive grassland with natural stands has been declining for decades.
On better sites, management is often intensified, resulting in a rapid decline in biodiversity. On poorer sites, on the other hand, land use is frequently abandoned, as this is usually linked to afforestation. This leads to a further decline in extensive grassland. The protection, conservation, and sustainable use of these genetic resources of extensive grassland is therefore a crucial task. Maintaining genetic diversity within species is an important contribution to preserving the biodiversity of these plant communities. Given Austria's diverse climate zones and the variety of site and management factors, it is essential to record, assess, and safeguard the resulting genetic diversity. However, this goal cannot be achieved through in-situ conservation measures alone. There are now ways not only to protect such valuable habitats but also to reintegrate them into our cultural landscape.
Crop production alternatives - arable crops
Until the last century, agriculture was widespread in the inner Alpine regions. Besides potatoes, various types of grain were cultivated for human and livestock feed. In recent years, the cultivation of these crops has often experienced a small-scale renaissance, as farms specialize in these niche products and market them through premium channels or direct marketing strategies.
Crop production alternatives - specialty crops
Our focus in this area is fruit and wine growing. Due to the often steep, south-facing slopes, insufficient ground cover can lead to enormous erosion damage. Site-adapted permanent cover crops improve the accessibility of the vineyards, soil structure, and biological activity, and are, of course, an important erosion control measure. The right seed mixture is crucial to ensure, for example, that the cover crop doesn't become slippery in wet conditions on steep slopes or that it doesn't compete for water and nutrients on dry sites. In practice, these objectives are very often not achieved. Determining whether the failure is due to inadequate application of cover cropping technology, a seed mixture unsuitable for the location, climate, and management conditions, or errors in cover crop maintenance is usually not straightforward. With overseeding equipment developed for establishing and reseeding grassland, permanent cover crops can also be established in fruit growing using state-of-the-art technology. Regular reseeding of such stands helps to close gaps, even under heavy use, and maintain a high proportion of desired species and varieties in the cover crop. Modern cover crop mixtures are primarily composed of grass varieties. They are resistant to mechanical stress, regenerate readily, have low biomass production, and exert little competition for water and nutrients. If, in addition to the management-relevant properties of the cover crop, biodiversity is also to be increased, various herbs can be established. However, it is recommended to sow these with a divided seed drill between the wheel tracks to avoid damaging them during vehicle passes.
Breeding and seed production
In Austria's climatically disadvantaged grassland production regions, the availability of suitable varieties is limited, as international breeders do not offer dedicated breeding programs for the Alpine region, considering it a market too small. Due to the lack of commercial forage plant breeding, the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein (Higher Federal Institute for Agricultural Research and Testing) launched a comprehensive program for breeding grasses and legumes in the late 1980s, specifically tailored to the needs of Austrian grassland farming. Over the past 25 years, the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein has collected and observed material from a wide variety of domestic grassland sites and refined it through selective breeding to achieve desired traits. The Gumpenstein varieties are propagated domestically and form the basis for many high-quality seed mixtures, guaranteeing seed producers competitive market prices compared to other European countries. While domestic production of forage crop seed at the end of the 1990s was around 165 tons, spread over 410 hectares, current production has reached a respectable 700 tons, spread over 1250 hectares. This means that Austria can now be considered self-sufficient in forage crops by more than 30%. Since forage crop breeding at the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a non-profit activity and sees its primary task as supplementing the existing range of grass and legume varieties available in Austria for grassland farming, future activities will remain within this framework.
Quality mixtures for grassland
The most important asset for a grassland and livestock farmer is their meadows, pastures, and forage crops. The vegetation of these grassland crops should be predominantly grass, have a stable sward, and be harmoniously composed of legumes and compatible herbs. Productivity and resilience depend significantly on the characteristics of the varieties introduced through overseeding, reseeding, or new establishment. Only those who use seed mixtures that are optimally adapted to the specific characteristics of the climate and location, as well as the intended use, will achieve success. The composition of seed mixtures for forage production and for overseeding, reseeding, or new establishment of permanent grassland has also evolved and, in some cases, changed considerably over the years, following updated recommendations for the proper management of such areas. The art of composing grassland mixtures essentially lies in selecting the most suitable species and combining them in appropriate proportions.
