Publication affiliated with PULS in the prestigious Science

High-yield grasslands, as a source of feed for herbivorous animals, are usually characterized by low species diversity and are fertilized with large doses of nitrogen. In their publication, the researchers presented an alternative feed production strategy based on multi-species seed mixtures for establishing rotational grasslands, proving that increasing plant diversity in grasslands increases yields and reduces the need for high doses of fertilizers. The results of the study are the outcome of a joint field experiment conducted as part of the LegacyNet research network at 26 research sites in Europe, the US, Canada, New Zealand and China. The experiment tested diverse compositions of six forage plant species from three functional groups (grasses, legumes and forage herbs) as mixtures for establishing grasslands with systematically increasing floristic diversity, cultivated with moderate doses of nitrogen. It was found that multi-species mixtures yielded better than two compositions commonly used in grassland management, such as grass monoculture with high doses of nitrogen fertilization and a two-species mixture of grasses and legumes. The high yields obtained in multi-species mixtures were stimulated by strong positive interactions between grasses and legumes, and between legumes and herbs. In warmer locations, the effect of increased yields of multi-species mixtures containing legumes and herbs – compared to grass monocultures fertilized with high doses of nitrogen – was greater. The studies have demonstrated that improved seed mixture compositions for grassland establishment can contribute to more sustainable forage production and improve the adaptation of high-yielding grasslands to a warming climate.

The publication in Science proves that it is possible to conduct high-quality scientific research not only on the basis of participation in consortia of scientific and R&D projects financed by domestic and foreign grantors, but also through international research networks that do not have dedicated external funding. In the LegacyNet research network, research is funded from the partners' own resources, while in the case of the Department of Grassland and Natural Landscape at the Poznań University of Life Sciences – it is funded from subsidies. The essence of the LegacyNet network is the idea of research and the willingness of scientific centers to cooperate on solving an important research problem, as well as the conviction that conducting research within an international team, with an agreed common methodological protocol, has enormous communicative power in the process of disseminating research results in the international scientific space, greater than the results obtained in a single research center. The leaders of the LegacyNet network are Prof. Caroline Brophy (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland), Dr John Finn (Teagasc, Ireland) and Dr Carsten Malisch (Aarhus University, Denmark). Prof. Piotr Goliński, head of Department of Grassland and Natural Landscape Sciences at PULS, is also among the founders of the network. In the coming months, further publications are planned in prestigious scientific journals, resulting from research conducted within the LegacyNet research network.

Publication:
James O’Malley, John A. Finn, Carsten S. Malisch, Matthias Suter, Sebastian T. Meyer, Giovanni Peratoner, Marie-Noëlle Thivierge, Diego Abalos, Paul R. Adler, T. Martijn Bezemer, Alistair D. Black, Åshild Ergon, Barbara Golińska, Guylain Grange, Josef Hakl, Nyncke J. Hoekstra, Olivier Huguenin-Elie, Jingying Jing, Jacob M. Jungers, Julie Lajeunesse, Ralf Loges, Gaëtan Louarn, Andreas Lüscher, Thomas Moloney, Christopher K. Reynolds, Ievina Sturite, Ali Sultan Khan, Rishabh Vishwakarma, Yingjun Zhang, Feng Zhu, Caroline Brophy, Multispecies grasslands produce more yield from lower nitrogen inputs across a climatic gradient. Science, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady0764 
Information about the results of research contained in the publication for the scientific community:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRenEPnM8OQ 
Information about the results of research contained in the publication for a wide audience:
https://tinyurl.com/LegacyNetSciencePaper

Information about the publication on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1682326069415343 
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7402617940073721856/ 
https://www.instagram.com/p/DR39FCwjhoB/ 
https://x.com/tcddublin/status/1996893740708106592?s=46 
https://www.tiktok.com/@trinitycollegedublin/video/7580280489341226273?_r=1&_t=ZN-91xxaonoXSA 
 

Information about the LegacyNet research network:
https://legacynet.scss.tcd.ie/index.php 
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Iwona Cieślik 
PULS Press Officer