Seasonal changes in herbage mass and nutritive value of a range of grazed legume swards under Mediterranean and cool temperate conditions

Summary Seasonal changes in herbage mass and herbage quality of legume‐based swards under grazing by sheep or cattle were investigated at four locations in climatically different zones of Europe: Sardinia (Italy), southern France, northern Germany and south‐west England (UK). At each location standard treatments were applied to legumes typical of species widely used in each locality:Medicago polymorphain Italy,Medicago sativain France, andTrifolium repensin Germany and in UK. At each site comparisons were made of two other legumes:Trifolium subterraneumandHedysarum coronariumin Italy,Onobrychis sativaandTrifolium incarnatumin France,Trifolium pratenseandLotus corniculatusin Germany, andTrifolium ambiguumandL. corniculatusin UK. Legumes were sown in mixture with locally appropriate companion grasses, and measurements were made over two or three grazing periods. In ItalyM. polymorphaswards gave the greatest herbage mass in grazing period 1 butH. coronariumwas more persistent. At the French site all legumes established poorly with no significant herbage mass differences between treatments. At both the UK and German sitesL. corniculatusmaintained a high proportion of legume in the sward;T. repensshowed poor persistence under continuous sheep grazing in UK but persisted under cattle grazing in Germany, whileT. ambiguumwas slow to establish in the UK, andT. pratenseproved to be of comparable herbage mass to the standardT. repens‐based sward in the last year of the experiment. The concentration of crude protein andin vitrodigestibility of organic matter in the dry matter of herbage showed greater within‐season variation than between treatments at each site. It is concluded that, in addition to currently used species, legume‐based swards containingH. coronarium, O. sativaandL. corniculatusall have potential to contribute to forage production for low‐input grazing and their use merits further consideration in systems of livestock production in Europe.