A 4-year comparison of pasture mixtures, including those with deep-rooting Festulolium, on herbage and soil and root properties in 50 cm cores, plus associated botanical species surveys.

This dataset was collected between 2014 and 2018 to investigate how different grass and clover varieties affect soil and herbage properties at a field scale. In particular, to determine whether Festulolium with a deep root architecture could increase carbon storage in grassland subsoils. Fields sown with Festulolium (cv. Prior, and later cv. BX511), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Abermagic), both either alone or sown with white clover (Trifolium repens cv. Aberherald), or permanent pasture were studied. Data were collected on 6 occasions: in Sept 2014, May and Sept 2015, May 2016, Oct 2017 and Sept 2018. On the first four sample dates, the same 7 fields were sampled, and 5 replicate samples were taken from each. On the last two sample dates, only 3 of the fields were sampled, again with 5 replicate samples taken. Data includes: Soil, root and herbage carbon and nitrogen contents (percentage and stable isotope); herbage yield; botanical survey of species present and percentage cover; root mass; soil bulk density; count of macroinvertebrates present; clay depth.
The experiment took place on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a UK National Capability in SW England. The NWFP is split into a number of self-contained farms (‘farmlets’) that are managed according to different operation philosophies or practices. At the time of the experiment, there were three farmlets on the NWFP with different pasture management strategies. Permanent pasture (PP), a perennial ryegrass monoculture (HS) which was sown with a high sugar Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic, and a white clover/perennial ryegrass mix (WC) with the same ryegrass variety as the HS pasture. The exception were the fields known as Longlands North (WC farmlet) and Longlands East (HS farmlet), where the perennial ryegrass was replaced with Festulolium. The PP and HS pastures received N fertilizer at a standard rate, but the WC pastures did not due to the inclusion of a legume. Fields within a farmlet are cut for silage and grazed by cattle and sheep, with livestock grazing or consuming silage only from one farmlet. The Longlands North, Longlands East and Longlands South (PP farmlet) are treated as a ‘trio’, that typically undergo very similar timings in agricultural management, such as grazing by the same species at the same time, as far as is feasible.
The NWFP is highly instrumented and monitored, and core NWFP datasets are open and include in-situ water flow and chemistry taken at 15-minute intervals; 15-minute Met measurements; 15-minute soil moisture measurements; 30-minute GHG emissions; soils, crop and botanical field survey data; livestock and crop performance data; and farm operational activities, and contextual information is also available. See https://nwfp.rothamsted.ac.uk/. There are guides to the NWFP, including maps and establishment information, available at http://resources.rothamsted.ac.uk/farm-platform-national-capability/data-portal-guides-and-information.