Trends in soil chemistry and floristics associated with the establishment of a low-input meadow system on an arable clay soil in Essex Original Research Article

This study charts the progress of a scheme to create a floristically rich grassland on cultivated clay soil. An arable field was taken out of production in 1984 and sown with a Lolium perenne/Trifolium repens mix and was managed along with much older meadows at low intensities—no fertilisers, summer hay cutting and light sheep grazing between August and November. Quadrat sampling over 10 years showed a substantial increase in plant species richness (to 42 species) but there was still a greater richness in two older meadows (48–57 species), of which one showed an increase in richness from 26 in 1988 to 57 in 1994, which suggests that the current management regime is increasing diversity. Soil extractable P, a key element in restoring plant communities of high conservation interest, also decreased in the abandoned arable field in 9 years from 19.6 to 3.2 μg g−1, giving concentrations similar to the older grasslands.