Effects on soil of grassland management for pasture, hay and silage

In this chapter we address how grassland management affects soils, recognizing that this relationship is not unidirectional, and it is driven by interacting factors such as soil texture, climate, botanical composition, production systems (grazing or mowing for hay and silage) and management practices. Grasslands that are managed for pasture, hay and silage would not naturally be grasslands, but have been established on areas that historically would have been forest but have been cleared and developed for agricultural purposes. Consequently, grasslands have diverse soil textures that influence other physico-chemical properties and processes in soil.