Yield potential and quality of forage mixtures of alfalfa with cocksfoot and tall fescue depending on the nitrogen fertilization

Z Bijelic,S Vuckovic,A Simic,V Mandic,Z Tomic,D Ruzic-Muslic

doi:10.2298/bah1304695b

Abstract

The study was performed at the Institute for Animal Husbandry in the three year period, in field and laboratory conditions. The experiment involved two mixtures of grasses and legumes: mixture A ( alfalfa (cv. K -28 ), 50% and cocksfoot (cv. K-40 ), 50% ) and mixture B (alfalfa (cv. K -28 ), 33.3 % , cocksfoot (cv. K -40) , 33.3 %, and tall fescue (cv. K -20) , 33.3 % ), and pure stand of alfalfa (M). The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with four replications. Fertilization was carried out using the split method, in quantities of 0, 70 and 140 kg N ha -1. The aim of this study was to determine the phytocoenological stability of mixture of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) with cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), the yield and quality of fodder obtained from the grassland, depending on the mixture composition and nitrogen fertilization. Studied factors had a statistically significant impact on dry matter yield and protein yield. Alfalfa has achieved significantly higher yields compared to its mixtures. Dry matter yield increased with the addition of N fertilizers. Protein yield was highest in pure alfalfa crop, followed by its mixture cocksfoot. Fertilization has also increased protein yield.

Highlights

Grasslands can provide sufficient quantities of inexpensive and high quality forage for livestock production, for feeding of large and small ruminants
The aim of this study was to determine the phytocoenological stability of the mixture of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. ) with cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), the yield and quality of fodder obtained from the grasslands, depending on the mixture composition and nitrogen fertilization
N fertilization had no statistically significant effect on the crude protein content, the results show that the content slightly increased with the addition of N

Summary

Introduction

Grasslands can provide sufficient quantities of inexpensive and high quality forage for livestock production, for feeding of large and small ruminants. This option requires the proper use of grassland areas, whether natural or sown, that is very precise planning and management systems. Comparing statistics from previous years, we can conclude that the production area decreased. For these reasons, attention should be directed towards sown grasslands, or mixtures of grasses and legumes. There are numerous benefits of grass - legume mixtures that lead to thir use, such as: nitrogen fixating ability of legumes where grass can use adopted nitrogen (Tekeli and Ates, 2005), the high productivity of mixtures during the entire growing season Cattle can be fed green food because the possibility of bloat is reduced and the performance is better compared to cattle fed monocrops (Sanderson et al , 1999)

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Conclusion