Influence of mineral fertilization on some biological and productive indicators of natural meadow of Agrostis capillaris-Festuca fallax type in the Rhodope Mountains (Southern Bulgaria)

Ya Kozhouharov,V Lingorski

doi:10.2298/bah1203613k

Abstract

The experiment with natural meadow of Agrostis capillaris - Festuca fallax type in Rhodope Mountains (Smolyan region, Southern Bulgaria) shows that according to fertilization variants there is a clear tendency towards earlier start of active vegetation and its next phenophases. Most and almost equal amounts of dry biomass (4.38 and 4.31 t.ha-1) were reported in fertilization with N160P80K80 and N160P80, which exceeded the unfertilized control by 128.12 and 124.48%, respectively. Compared with unfertilized variant, the crude protein content increased in all fertilizing variants, as in complete mineral fertilization with N80-160 accumulates the crudest protein - respectively 314 g.kg-1 and 318 g.kg-1. As regards to other studying chemical indicators of the forage (crude fiber, crude fat, crude ash and nitrogen-free extract substances) the mineral fertilization also had an expressed positive effect.

Highlights

The meadows and pastures in the mountainous regions of Bulgaria have a highly productive potential as a basic and only one source of obtaining roughage for refute or pasture breeding of animals.The natural meadows of Agrostis capillaris-Festuca fallax type in Bulgaria occupy an area of 50 783.3 ha, which is 22.66% of the total area of natural meadows in the country (224 145.8 ha)
The field experiment was conducted during the 1992-1994 period, on natural meadow of Agrostis capillaris-Festuca fallax type in the Rhodope Mountains at 1100 m altitude
The block-method was used in four repetitions and the harvesting plot area of 25 m2 with the following fertilizer rates in kg per 1 ha as variants: 1. N0P0K0 – Control; fertilization variants: 2. N80; 3

Summary

Introduction

The meadows and pastures in the mountainous regions of Bulgaria have a highly productive potential as a basic and only one source of obtaining roughage for refute or pasture breeding of animals (mainly sheep and cattle).The natural meadows of Agrostis capillaris-Festuca fallax type in Bulgaria occupy an area of 50 783.3 ha, which is 22.66% of the total area of natural meadows in the country (224 145.8 ha). The natural pastures of this type amounted to 82 696 ha, which is 6.76% of the total area of natural pastures in the country (1 222 896.2 ha). In Smolyan region natural meadows of this type reached 56.8% of the total area of natural meadows in the region,and annually give about 1.5-2.0. The natural pastures of the same type here reached 39.2% of the total area of natural pastures in the region, giving an annual yield of 3.6-4.4 t.ha-1 green mass with good quality feed. The main reasons for their low forage productivity are specific vegetation of grass stands and available natural and environmental characteristics that are typical of the region such as weak soil reserve with essential nutrients, high soil acidity, irregular rainfall distribution, a high rough of country, etc

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