Call for Papers

Multispecies Swards for Agricultural Grassland Systems

Submission Deadline: Friday, 31 July 2026

In recent years the term "multispecies swards" has been used to describe a new way of utilising multiple forage species where productive forage species are combined based on their trait complementarity. The aim of such swards is to be as productive as traditional grass monocultures while needing low, or no, inorganic Nitrogen input and being self-sustaining with minimal management requirement. Prior research shows that, by combining multiple species that each fill different ecological niches (e.g. rooting depths, growth seasons, growth habits, reproductive cycles, and nutritive profiles), diversity effects can be obtained — i.e. the mixtures are able to outperform even the most productive species sown in monoculture. Furthermore, deeper rooting species that can access moisture further down the soil profile may allow more feed to be grown during dry spells, maintaining animal production during challenging feed gaps — a global issue that is becoming increasingly important due to climate change effects.

There is a need for further international evidence confirming effects of multispecies swards on productivity, resilience, and environmental benefit in various climates and conditions. There are a number of aspects of multispecies swards that are still poorly understood such as (i) how to design multispecies swards for certain use-cases and environments, (ii) optimal sward management and how this interacts with botanical composition (iii) long term studies including species persistence and soil health impacts (iv) animal studies on the effects of consuming multispecies swards on productivity and health and (v) the potential of multispecies swards to contribute to mitigation of agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

A flurry of research into multispecies swards in recent years combined with a timely European Grasslands Federation symposium on Multispecies Swards that will be held in September 2025 should provide ample source of papers for a special issue on this topic.

This Special Issue aims to bring together recent advances on the topic of multispecies swards and grasslands. While this issue will be an opportunity for authors presenting a paper to the European Grassland Federation’s 23rd Symposium on Multispecies Swards to submit a full paper from their abstract this is also an open call for submissions. We encourage contributions from all researchers working in this area, regardless of their participation in the event.

Multispecies swards in this context may comprise perennial or annual species (or both), as well as temporary and permanent (including native) grasslands. We wish to invite papers comparing multispecies swards with monoculture/low-diversity swards on the following:

  • Biomass production and nutritive characteristics;
  • Climate resilience;
  • Effects on the environment (e.g. water quality, water quantity, gaseous emissions, biodiveristy);
  • Animal performance and ruminant nutrition when grazed or fed as conserved forage;
  • Species selection and seed mixture design;
  • Best practice agronomy and grazing management including deliberate manipulation of botanical composition;
  • Ecosystem function and inter-plant services;
  • Soil health, soil characteristics, and nitrogen cycling;
  • Taste, functionality, or quality of resulting milk, meat and other food products;
  • Pasture persistence/longevity, reseeding and rejuvenation techniques;
  • Follow-on impacts in the subsequent ley or crop.

Guest Editors:

Dr. Anna Thomson (Lead)
Agriculture Victoria Research, Australia

Dr. John Finn
Teagasc, Ireland

Dr. Carsten Malisch
Aarhus University, Denmark

Prof. Yingjun Zhang
China Agricultural University, China


Keywords:

Diverse swards/grasslands/pastures/forages; Forage combinations; Forage mixtures; Herbal leys; Multispecies swards/grasslands/pastures/forages.


Submission Guidelines/Instructions:

Please refer to the Author Guidelines to prepare your manuscript. When submitting your manuscript, please answer the question "Is this submission for a special issue?" by selecting the special issue title from the drop-down list.

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