Semi-natural hay meadows are among the most biodiversity-rich terrestrial ecosystems, and are managed for conservation purposes in most of Europe, including Sweden. Romania has some of Europe's largest areas of grasslands still managed with traditional methods. Through interviews and field studies, current management practices were investigated in two Romanian villages, and compared with CAP-generated grassland management in Swedish hay meadows and historical Swedish management of grasslands. The study evaluated the effect of the eligibility criteria within both countries’ National Rural Development Programmes (NRDPs) on different ecologically important components of hay meadow management. The success of Swedish management was measured by assessing population trends for 25 grassland plant species. Current management proved to be considerably more diverse in Romania than in Sweden, but historical Swedish management was similar to management in Romania. Both countries’ NRDPs provide support for some management components, but create barriers against other components. The Romanian NRDP contained more barriers than the Swedish NRDP, yet Swedish management showed little success in preserving grassland plants. NRDPs should nourish the use of local and traditional knowledge in order to preserve biodiversity in semi-natural grasslands. There are major limitations in both countries’ NRDPs.

Terpene composition of ewes’ raw milk from nine commercial flocks was analysed from February to July. Ewes’ diet consisted of concentrate and conserved forage in winter (indoor feeding) and part-time grazing from spring (transition and outdoor feeding). Regardless of the feeding, limonene and β-phellandrene were the most abundant monoterpenes and β-caryophyllene showed the highest concentrations among sesquiterpenes. Terpene content increased in the milks of commercial flocks when animals were reared under grazing management. Monoterpenes were detected in the milks of all the commercial flocks throughout the season, whereas sesquiterpenes were only detected in the milks from flocks grazing on non-cultivated community-owned grasslands in which a higher biodiversity of plant species grew. These preliminary results indicated that β-caryophyllene could be a potential pasture-diet marker in the case of milks from animals grazing a higher biodiversity of plant species but in-depth studies including information on terpene composition of plants ingested by the animals are necessary to evaluate the suitability of β-caryophyllene or another terpenoid compound as pasture biomarker.