Global Change Experimental Facility

Design period: (2014—)

Design Type

Split-plot

Design description

There are two treatments with climate (2 levels: ambient vs. future) as the main plot treatment and land use as the sub plot treatment (5 levels: conventional farming, organic farming, intensively used meadow, extensively used meadow and extensively used pasture. Sub plots measure 16 x 24m

Number of subplots

50

Number of replicates

5

Number of harvests per year

1

Crops

Crop	Years grown
pasture
feed grasses
winter wheat
winter rapeseed
winter barley
faba beans

Crop Rotations

conventional

• 1
  winter rapeseed
• 2
  winter wheat
• 3
  winter barley

organic

• 1
  faba beans
• 2
  winter wheat
• 3
  winter barley

Factors

Factor name

Factor levels

climate warming

Ambient

Future

farming system

conventional agriculture

Uses a typical crop rotation for the region of winter rape, winter wheat, and winter barley. Mineral fertilizers and pesticides are applied following conventional practice.

organic agriculture

Uses a crop rotation of beans, winter wheat and winter barley. The farming system is environmentally friendly using mechanical weed control, organic fertilization and restricted pesticide use.

Intensively managed meadow

Uses a conventional mix of forage grasses, with moderate fertilization and frequent mowing (3-4 times per year)

Extensively managed meadow

Uses a mixture of over 50 plant species typical for grasslands of the region and representative of the local gene pool. Meadows are mown less frequently (2-3 times per year).

Extensively managed pasture

Uses the same species mix as the extensively managed meadow, but is grazed by sheep 2-3 times per year.