Soil compaction can affect the productivity of permanent grassland. The effectiveness of methods to alleviate compaction depends on compaction level and soil type. We applied sward lifting in compacted grassland on a sandy loam and a heavy clay soil and measured effects on soil characteristics, grass roots, and grass productivity for a period of up to 32 months. Our results show that sward lifting improved soil structure in the heavily compacted sandy loam for at least 31 months. This led to an improvement in water drainage; sward-lifted plots dried up an estimated 10 days earlier than control plots in spring 2017. A likely earlier start of root growth resulted in a higher grass herbage yield (+12% to +22%) and nitrogen (N) uptake (+13% to +22%) in three first growth periods but in only relatively small gains over the entire experimental period (+4% and +8%, respectively). The higher herbage N uptake on sward-lifted plots over the experimental period (+76 kg N ha⁻¹) was offset by a small N loss (−67 kg N ha⁻¹) from the 0–30 cm soil layer. On the heavy clay, sward lifting also improved soil structure and rooting, but effects were smaller and shorter-lived, and herbage yield and N uptake tended to be lower over the entire experimental period (−6% and −5%, respectively). Here, the lower N uptake on sward-lifted plots over the experimental period (−43 kg N ha⁻¹) was accompanied by a large soil N loss (−613 kg N ha⁻¹). Based on all results, we conclude that sward lifting has limited attractiveness to alleviate compaction in water-retaining sandy soils when average penetration resistance in the topsoil is below 2.8 MPa. Sward lifting should be avoided on smectic clay soils altogether, as these soils have a high natural restoration capacity and sward lifting has more negative than positive effects.

土壤压实会影响永久性草地的生产力。减轻压实度的方法的有效性取决于压实度和土壤类型。我们在压实的草原上的沙壤土和厚厚的粘土土壤上进行了草皮起草，并测量了长达32个月的土壤特性，草根和草生产力的影响。我们的结果表明，在至少31个月的时间内，草皮举起可改善重压实砂壤土的土壤结构。这导致了排水的改善；2017年春季，草皮提举的地块比对照地块干了大约10天。在较早的三个生长期，可能较早开始生根，导致更高的草料产量（+ 12％至+ 22％）和氮（N）吸收（+ 13％至+ 22％），但在整个实验期间（分别为+ 4％和+ 8％）。在试验期内，草地上的草料对氮的吸收较高（+76 kg N ha^-1）被0-30厘米土壤层中的少量氮损失（-67 kg N ha ^-1）抵消。在沉重的粘土上，草皮提拉还改善了土壤结构和生根，但效果更小，寿命更短，并且在整个实验期间，牧草产量和氮素吸收趋向于降低（分别为-6％和5％）。在此，在试验期间，草地上的低氮吸收量为（-43 kg N ha ^-1），土壤氮素流失较大（-613 kg N ha ^-1））。根据所有结果，我们得出结论，当表层土壤的平均渗透阻力低于2.8 MPa时，草皮抬起在减轻保水性沙土中压实方面的吸引力有限。完全避免在近黏土上进行草皮起草，因为这些土壤具有很高的自然恢复能力，并且草皮起草的负面影响远大于正面影响。