Abstract
Reduction of soil fertility is a key factor for restoration of species-rich grasslands. However, when soil fertility is already low, a further reduction may reduce flower size and weight. Low fertilization rates could then enhance grass production and enlarge the size of the flowers of grassland herbs and legumes. To test this hypothesis we collected inflorescences of Leucanthemum vulgare and Trifolium pratense on two species-rich grasslands with three different treatments: (a) control: no fertilization; (b) application of cattle slurry; (c) application of P and K fertilizer. The length of the flowering stem and the diameter and weight of the flowers of 50 inflorescences were measured per treatment. As expected, with fertilization, grassland productivity increased as well as the length of the flowering stem for both species. A limited application of cattle slurry or P and K did not affect species-richness of the grasslands. For L. vulgare the diameter and weight of the flowers were significantly larger with slurry application, but not with P and K fertilization. For T. pratense, only the diameter of the flowers was increased by slurry application. We conclude that at nutrient-poor conditions the flower size of the L. vulgare and T. pratense could be increased by limited application rates of slurry or P and K fertilizer, without affecting the overall species-richness of the swards.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed other-oa. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilization increased grassland productivity.
Not reportedTaxonComparator
Verbatim
e0“with fertilization, grassland productivity increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilization increased flowering-stem length of L. vulgare.
- Taxon
- L. vulgare
Leucanthemum vulgaree1 - Treatment
- fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- length of the flowering steme0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“with fertilization, grassland productivity increased as well as the length of the flowering stem for both species”
e1“For L. vulgare the diameter and weight of the flowers were significantly larger with slurry application”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilization increased flowering-stem length of T. pratense.
- Taxon
- T. pratense
Trifolium pratensee1 - Treatment
- fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- length of the flowering steme0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“with fertilization, grassland productivity increased as well as the length of the flowering stem for both species”
e1“For T. pratense, only the diameter of the flowers was increased by slurry application”
Claim · model-written summary
Limited cattle slurry did not affect grassland species richness.
Not reportedTaxonComparator
Verbatim
e0“A limited application of cattle slurry or P and K did not affect species-richness of the grasslands”
Claim · model-written summary
Limited P and K fertilizer did not affect grassland species richness.
Not reportedTaxonComparator
Verbatim
e0“A limited application of cattle slurry or P and K did not affect species-richness of the grasslands”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry significantly enlarged L. vulgare flower diameter and weight.
- Taxon
- L. vulgareLeucanthemum vulgaree0
- Treatment
- slurry applicatione0
- Outcome
- diameter and weight of the flowerse0
- Direction
- largere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For L. vulgare the diameter and weight of the flowers were significantly larger with slurry application”
Claim · model-written summary
P and K fertilizer did not enlarge L. vulgare flowers.
- Taxon
- L. vulgareLeucanthemum vulgaree0
- Treatment
- P and K fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- diameter and weight of the flowerse0
- Direction
- note0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For L. vulgare the diameter and weight of the flowers were significantly larger with slurry application, but not with P and K fertilization”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry increased T. pratense flower diameter.
- Taxon
- T. pratenseTrifolium pratensee0
- Treatment
- slurry applicatione0
- Outcome
- diameter of the flowerse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For T. pratense, only the diameter of the flowers was increased by slurry application”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry did not increase T. pratense flower weight.
- Taxon
- T. pratenseTrifolium pratensee0
- Treatment
- slurry applicatione0
- Outcome
- only the diameter of the flowerse0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For T. pratense, only the diameter of the flowers was increased by slurry application”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend limited slurry or P and K fertilizer to enlarge flowers without changing sward species richness.
- Taxon
- L. vulgareLeucanthemum vulgaree0
- Treatment
- limited application rates of slurry or P and K fertilizere0
- Outcome
- flower sizee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“flower size of the L. vulgare and T. pratense could be increased by limited application rates of slurry or P and K fertilizer, without affecting the overall species-richness of the swards”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · growth · Trifolium pratense (red clover)Positive and negative results
4 papers in the same direction as this paper · 7 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- no effect
- no effect
8 papers more in this group
See all 12 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.