DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-093-1-0134

FORAGE PRODUCTION FROM REWETTED PEAT GRASSLAND

Mačuhová, J.¹, Thurner, S.¹

¹ Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Vöttinger Str. 36, 85354 Freising, Germany

The rewetting of agriculturally used peat grasslands is expected to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions. However, its effects on forage quality and yield remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the potential nutritive quality of vegetation from the rewetted part of one plot (plot of interest). In addition, vegetation from an adjacent non-rewetted plot was sampled as a control. Vegetation samples were collected from up to three fixed sampling areas shortly before each planned cut. In recent years, both plots were managed extensively, with up to two cuts per year on the rewetted plot and up to three cuts per year on the control plot. The collected material was dried at 40 °C in a drying box to hay dry matter content and subsequently subjected to extended Weender analysis. Results indicate that vegetation from the rewetted part of the plot of interest provided acceptable nutritive quality for the intended animal categories, with values comparable to those of the control plot. However, determining an appropriate cutting date is already challenging on grassland on mineral soils and becomes even more difficult on rewetted peatlands. Moreover, even when mowing is possible, harvesting the cut biomass is not always feasible.

Keywords: potential forage quality, rewetted peat grassland

pages: 134-135, Published: 2026, online: 2026