TRENDS IN SOIL CHEMISTRY AND FLORISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LOW-INPUT MEADOW SYSTEM ON AN ARABLE CLAY SOIL IN ESSEX

This study charts the progress of a scheme to create a floristically r ich grassland on cultivated clay soil. An arable field was taken out o f production in 1984 and sown with a Lolium perenne/Trifolium repens m ix and was managed along with much older meadows at low intensities-no fertilisers, summer hay cutting and light sheep grazing between Augus t and November. Quadrat sampling over 10 years showed a substantial in crease in plant species richness (to 42 species) but there was still a greater richness in two older meadows (48-57 species), of which one s howed an increase in richness from 26 in 1988 to 57 in 1994, which sug gests that the current management regime is increasing diversity. Soil extractable P, a key element in restoring plant communities of high c onservation interest, also decreased in the abandoned arable field in 9 years from 19.6 to 3.2 mu g g(-1), giving concentrations similar to the older grasslands. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Limited