In the last decades, a large body of evidence has highlighted the major role of feeding management practices in improving specific nutritional, technological and sensory quality traits of ruminant products. However, results have been mostly obtained under controlled conditions, and have been rarely validated on-farm. Therefore, a quantitative review was conducted to quantify the effects of on-farm feeding management practices on carotenoids, fat-soluble vitamins, colour, fatty acids (FAs), terpenes and sensory properties in the main animal product categories (PCs): dairy products from cattle (DC), sheep (DS) and goat (DG), and meat from cattle (MC) and sheep (MS). Four feeding scenarios were selected according to the consistency of on-farm studies in the literature: (a) feeding “Fresh herbage” instead of conserved forages; (b) ban any form of silage (“Silage-free”); (c) ban maize silage (“Maize silage-free”); (d) feeding forages from permanent grasslands rich in species or plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) (“PSM-rich permanent grassland”). Feeding fresh herbage increased the concentration of carotenoids, fat-soluble vitamin, n-3 FA, rumenic acid, and branched chain FA (BCFA), and reduced the concentration of saturated FA, for all PC, with overall stronger effect for dairy products than for meat. The texture of meat and dairy products was marginally affected, whereas feeding fresh herbage decreased lactic and increased vegetal notes in DC. The “Silage-free” feeding scenario resulted in increased vaccenic acid, rumenic acid, BCFA, and C18:3n-3 in DC. The “Maize silage-free” feeding scenario lowered n-6 FA whereas increased n-3, rumenic acid and BCFA concentrations in DC. Feeding ruminants with forages from “PSM-rich permanent grasslands” increased monounsaturated FA, n-3 FA and rumenic acid and decreased n-6 FA in dairy products, and only marginally affected meat FA composition. The DC from “PSM-rich permanent grasslands” showed higher intense, spicy and animal notes. Overall, the differences between feeding management practices observed on farm were smaller than those observed under controlled trials. Several confounding factors, not controlled when operating under on-farm conditions, could be at the origin of these divergences (i.e. mixed diets, forage characteristics, animal-related factors). This review confirmed that farming practices may differently affect several quality traits of ruminant products. It also highlighted the uneven knowledge on the effect of feeding management depending on the PC: larger for milk than for meat and decreasing when moving from cattle to sheep and from sheep to goat.

Grassland-based dairy production provides multiple benefits to farmers and to the wider society, but the European grassland area has been significantly reduced during the last decades. This paper aims to explore societal and economic options to support grassland-based dairy production in Europe. In the recent past, several societal initiatives have emerged to stimulate grassland-based dairy production: treaties, premiums and market concepts. When developing stimulating initiatives, the mindset of the farmer should be taken into account. Farmers are key actors when it comes to maintaining and improving grassland-based dairy production systems since they decide on the day-to-day management of the farm. To maintain grassland-based dairy production and to preserve the associated ecosystem services, it is, therefore, necessary to clearly show the importance of this production system for society to the farmers (show the customer perspective) and to support this by valuing the products from these systems accordingly. “New” business models should financially reward farmers for their added value contributions in delivering ecosystem services.

Landraces are thought to be well adapted to the environmental conditions of the region where they have evolved and to be highly tolerant to biotic and abiotic stress. There is indeed experimental evidence of that for several cereal species, but to our knowledge only scarce data is available on rye and none on rye landraces from South Tyrol in particular. For this region, assumptions rely mainly on historic documents or reports from the owners of the landraces. In a 3-year field experiment we described 13 landraces from Val Venosta/Vinschgau (South Tyrol, Italy), along with six modern population cultivars (CUL), at a mountain location. Depending on the available passport data, the landraces were assigned to two variety types: well documented landrace status (DLS) and uncertain landrace status (ULS). 14 traits concerning phenology, agronomy, indirect milling and baking quality as well as seed colour were investigated. Most of the traits representing the usual target of modern breeding were found to be dependent on the variety type. The results reflect well the expected differences between CUL and DLS, while ULS had an intermediate character. Winter hardiness and ripening time of both DLS and ULS, however, were found to be affected by the altitude of the site at which the landraces were collected, suggesting a certain adaptation of the landraces to the climatic conditions at the sites of origin.

Knowledge of the appropriate base temperature (Tb) is needed for the analysis of meteorological effects on plant phenology using growing degree-days. However, several values of Tb have been used for mountain grassland. The main purpose of this research was to identify the optimal Tb for predicting changes in crude protein, acid detergent fibre and net energy for lactation of forage grown in mountain permanent meadows in South Tyrol (Italy). Forage samples were sequentially harvested weekly for a period of seven weeks starting from the pasture stage (15 cm growing height) at 202 environments (sites × years). To estimate the most appropriate Tb, growing degree day sum (GDDsum) were computed in the time interval between one week before pasture stage and the harvest time using a range of Tb between 0 °C and 5 °C at a 0.5 °C interval and using both observed temperatures from reference weather stations and interpolated temperature. Optimal Tb were estimated on the basis of the R2 values of the regression equations of the different quality parameters on GDDsum and can be set at 0, 1.5 and 4.5 °C for the prediction of CP, NEL and ADF respectively. R2 values exhibited in general little variation within the investigated range.

Mountain grassland represents an important source of ecosystem services. Its conservation is best achieved by means of a site-specific agricultural use, but less-favoured areas are currently endangered by abandonment because of ongoing socio-economic changes. In order to get a reliable figure of the costs of forage production for the mountain meadows of South Tyrol, an assessment including machinery and personnel costs, as well as the respective working times, was conducted in 2011 for 100 plots on 19 grassland farms. Our results show a greater labour input as the steepness of meadows increases and the dimension of plots declines. Thus, as far as farmers are rational economic agents, specific compensation measures are required for the conservation of extensive grasslands.

An adequate Selenium (Se) content in the diet of dairy cattle is important to ensure satisfactory animal fertility and health. The Se content of grassland forage of some European countries is very low, which makes dietary Se-supplementation necessary. As an alternative, the Se content in forage can be increased by grassland fertilisation. Se-containing fertilisers (SeF) are already available on the market in granulated form of Na2SeO4 and BaSeO4, usually combined with limestone. There is increasing interest in combining SeF with slurry, in order to reduce application costs, but its effect is not known. For this reason, four fertilisation treatments (slurry mixed with SeF, slurry applied after spreading SeF, SeF mixed with mineral fertiliser, control with untreated slurry) were tested in a two-year experiment in combination with two application frequencies (yearly, once in two years). No effect of the fertilisation treatments was observed on yield. Se content in the forage was equally increased by all fertilisation treatments in comparison to the control, and decreased with increasing time since fertilisation. A single application of SeF in two years resulted in a Se content above, or close to, the recommended dietary level of 100 mu g kg(-1) until the first cut of the second year.

The seed multiplication of ecotypes of perennial alpine plants is often characterised by considerable labour costs and intensive maintenance care. The crop persistency is of great importance in determining the economic feasibility of cultivation. The seed of Trifolium alpinum, a desirable seed mixture component for the revegetation of strongly acid soils at high altitude in the Alps, can be successfully propagated, but less is known about the crop persistency. In a six-year field trial, plant cover, several yield components and seed yield were surveyed over time. Two harvesting methods (manual harvest, mechanised harvest) were investigated as well. The yield considerably increased in the first two harvest seasons, but then abruptly dropped to a very low level, mainly due to low infructescence density and a high proportion of empty florets, while plant cover remained constant. The mechanised harvest led to slightly higer thousand seed weight and lower seed yield. It is concluded that the seed production of Trifolium alpinum is reasonably limited to two harvest years. The mechanical harvest, despite a 20% lower seed yield, seems to be feasible in order to reduce the cultivation costs and, in turn, the seed price.