A note on the effect of protection from grazing on a sward containing seven grass species and white clover

The effects of six periods of protection from grazing (by sheep) on the botanical composition of a multi-species sward were investigated using a sward containing seven grass species and a small amount of white clover. The periods of protection were 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 months, in each case beginning on 1 June, 1993. Numbers of tillers of grasses and numbers of growing points of white clover were recorded on 31 May and 1 November, 1993 and 1 March, 1994. Protection from grazing reduced the number of tillers of Cynosurus cristatus and the number of growing points of white clover and temporarily increased the number of tillers of Poa trivialis. Protection did not have a major effect on Festuca ovina, Lolium perenne or Agrostis tenuis.