Nitrate leaching under permanent grassland, field fodder and winter vegetation

Farmers use commercially available seed mixtures for grassland for greening. Three of these certified seed mixtures will be used in this project, with particular attention to their nitrogen uptake capacity.
The research project is intended to demonstrate management measures in the Alpine area so that there is no serious contamination of groundwater bodies with nitrates and therefore no protected areas need to be designated.
Since many farmers in the grassland sector want to exist as purely organic farms, but would like to avoid purchasing expensive concentrated feed in the form of barley meal from organic farms, they are starting to grow grain again themselves. For this purpose, in a combined lysimeter and field test, the nitrogen leaching from permanent grassland and field fodder production will be compared with that from grain cultivation (summer barley) combined with different winter vegetation (evergreen system) in the inner Alpine area.