Sustainable pasture improvment in a Sardinian Quercus suber L. forest

Mechanical shrub clearance was carried out as an alternative to the use of blade dozers in adense Quercus suber forest in a granitic area of central Sardinia, followed by fertlisation and/oroversowing of annual self-reseeding forage species. Preliminary results showed that fertilisation canincrease DMY by up to 165% (90 Kg ha-1 P2O5) and 214% (90 Kg ha-1 P2O5 and 35 Kg ha-1 N) withrespect to the control (0.63 t ha-1 DMY). Sown mixtures of Medicago polymorpha and Trifoliumsubterraneum achieved good establishment and contributed considerably to total yield (82%). Theaddition of Lolium rigidum to the mixture led to similar production levels (2.3 t ha-1) but to a lowercontribution of the sown species to total biomass (50%).