Competition for S and N by associations of three annual range species in lysimeters

Summary

Competition for S and N was studied on free draining lysimeters seeded to associations of three annual forages on Josephine loam (Typic Haploxerults), an important soil for revegetation to rangeland production. Forage yields increased and the botanical composition shifted toward subclover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) with added S. Sulfate uptake and plant S concentration were increased as a function of the S applied. Forage yields were related to plant S concentration and N:S ratios.

Subclover and filaree (Erodium botrys (Cav.) Bertol.) obtained a larger proportion of their S from fertilizer-S than did soft chess (Bromus mollis L.). Total S uptake was largely from the applied fertilizer, 39% at the intermediate S level and 78% at high S.

The replacement series design of the experiment and the use of labeled S and N permitted calculation of competition coefficients for fertilizer S, total S, soil N, and total N uptake for the species in pairwise associations. Sulfur was the factor limiting to subclover where S was not applied, and N was the limiting factor to soft chess and filaree in mixtures with subclover at high S where subclover was able to fix most of its own N. In the mixture of soft chess and filaree competition for S and N was about equally intense for both nutrients at all S levels, and filaree was dominant consistently.

Comparison of two methods for estimating the fate of fertilizer S showed that differences in sulfur uptake and leachate losses over the controls provided significantly higher values for sulfur recovery than estimates based on the fate of³⁵S.