Abstract
Effects of five levels of applied nitrogen on field swards of each of five grasses were studied in the year of sowing, in the first full harvest year and part of the second harvest year. The plots were cut at 4-week intervals during the year of sowing; subsequently 4- and 8-week intervals between cuts were compared.
Differences between grasses in dry-matter yield response to applied N were sufficiently large to suggest that commercially-important varieties should be tested at more than one level of applied N. In Melle and R v P the percentage increase in weight per tiller due to applying N was much greater, and in Aberystwyth S.24, Sabrina and Aberystwyth S.170 only slightly greater, than the percentage increase in number of tillers. Sabrina had a low number of tillers, with a negative effect of the final increment of applied N on number of tillers. The results for the five grasses in respect of number of tillers, weight per tiller, dry-matter yield, N yield and light penetration all emphasized the case for more frequent defoliation the higher the level of N applied. The application of N greatly increased the proportion of ‘stem’ in the harvested herbage on 16 September 1977, evidently at least partly by reducing the proportion of stem which escaped defoliation. On that date, with the 8-week interval, the application of moderate amounts of N reduced the N content of the harvested herbage, evidently because of a large reduction in the proportion of green leaf blade and an increase in the proportions of ‘stem’ and dead leaf blade.
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Wilman, D., Mohamed, A.A. Response to nitrogen application and interval between harvests in five grasses — I Dry-matter yield, nitrogen content and yield, numbers and weights of tillers, and proportion of crop fractions. Fertilizer Research 1, 245–263 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01074197
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01074197