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The article discusses recent publications in the journal Grass & Forage Science, which include review papers and articles based on presentations at conferences and symposia. The current issue features a book review and two papers from the European Grassland Federation symposium, as well as two papers from the International Grassland Congress. The journal also covers topics such as green biorefinery, drought impacts on grasslands, plant diversity in grasslands, forage quality, agrivoltaic production systems, tropical grasslands, and plant-soil relationships. The article concludes by acknowledging the organizers of the symposiums and the efforts of the associate editors and referees. [Extracted from the article]

The year 2020 marks the 75th edition of Grass and Forage Science. From its beginnings as the Journal of the British Grassland Society, the journal has grown to be the major international journal with a primary emphasis on grasslands society. In this paper, to mark this anniversary we note the contributions of the editorial team, past and present, and the legacy of the journal by noting some of the highly cited papers published over the years and discuss the changing trends in science published in recent years. This includes an emphasis on the changing role of grasslands across the globe and the challenges that changing climate and altered production systems place on grazing agriculture. It is through the adoption of science that is being published now that the industries that we serve will be able to respond to these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Grassland diversity can support sustainable intensification of grassland production through increased yields, reduced inputs and limited weed invasion. We report the effects of diversity on weed suppression from 3 years of a 31‐site continental‐scale field experiment. At each site, 15 grassland communities comprising four monocultures and 11 four‐species mixtures based on a wide range of species' proportions were sown at two densities and managed by cutting. Forage species were selected according to two crossed functional traits, “method of nitrogen acquisition” and “pattern of temporal development”. Across sites, years and sown densities, annual weed biomass in mixtures and monocultures was 0.5 and 2.0 t  DM ha−1 (7% and 33% of total biomass respectively). Over 95% of mixtures had weed biomass lower than the average of monocultures, and in two‐thirds of cases, lower than in the most suppressive monoculture (transgressive suppression). Suppression was significantly transgressive for 58% of site‐years. Transgressive suppression by mixtures was maintained across years, independent of site productivity. Based on models, average weed biomass in mixture over the whole experiment was 52% less (95% confidence interval: 30%–75%) than in the most suppressive monoculture. Transgressive suppression of weed biomass was significant at each year across all mixtures and for each mixture. Weed biomass was consistently low across all mixtures and years and was in some cases significantly but not largely different from that in the equiproportional mixture. The average variability (standard deviation) of annual weed biomass within a site was much lower for mixtures (0.42) than for monocultures (1.77). Synthesis and applications. Weed invasion can be diminished through a combination of forage species selected for complementarity and persistence traits in systems designed to reduce reliance on fertiliser nitrogen. In this study, effects of diversity on weed suppression were consistently strong across mixtures varying widely in species' proportions and over time. The level of weed biomass did not vary greatly across mixtures varying widely in proportions of sown species. These diversity benefits in intensively managed grasslands are relevant for the sustainable intensification of agriculture and, importantly, are achievable through practical farm‐scale actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]