EFFECT OF SWINE LAGOON WATER APPLICATION RATE AND ALFALFA HARVEST FREQUENCY ON DRY MATTER PRODUCTION AND N HARVEST

A 4-year lime rate trial was established on a hill country sheep and cattle property near Te Akau to determine lime effects on pasture utilisation. Four rates of lime were applied (1.25 t/ha, 2.5 t/ha, 5 t/ha and 10 t/ha) to 2 m × 2 m plots, from which soil Al, Ca and pH, pasture grazing heights, dry matter production, pasture species composition, feed quality and brix levels were measured. Lime application reduced soil Al (14.6 to 1.1 mg/kg), and increased Ca and pH (5.0 to 6.2) over time in the highest application rate. Dry matter production responded to all rates of lime in each year, and by the fourth year it was 27% greater (1.25 t/ha treatment), 35% greater (2.5 t/ha treatment), 69% greater (5 t/ha treatment), and 97% greater (10 t/ha treatment) than in the un-limed plots. Ryegrass and subterranean clover content increased with lime rate, whereas chewings fescue and dicot weed content declined. There were no sustained differences in pasture grazing heights, feed quality or brix levels between the control and rates of lime. On this site, all rates of lime were economic to apply by truck or plane when the benefits were spread over 4 years, with the greatest cost-benefit from thelower rates of lime.

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Pig slurry and nutrient accumulation and dry matter and grain yield in various crops

Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo ◽

10.1590/s0100-06832014000300027 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 949-958 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Cledimar Rogério Lourenzi ◽

Carlos Alberto Ceretta ◽

Gustavo Brunetto ◽

Eduardo Girotto ◽

Tadeu Luis Tiecher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Application Rate ◽

Dry Matter Production ◽

Pig Slurry ◽

Nutrient Accumulation ◽

Matter Production ◽

Bean Yield ◽

Santa Maria

Pig slurry (PS) represents an important nutrient source for plants and using it as fertilizer makes greater nutrient cycling in the environment possible. The aim of this study was to assess how PS application over a period of years can affect grain yield, dry matter production and nutrient accumulation in commercial grain and cover crops. The experiment was carried out in an experimental area of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, from May 2000 to January 2008. In this period, 19 grain and cover crops were grown with PS application before sowing, at rates of 0, 20, 40 and 80 m³ ha-1. The highest PS rate led to an increase in nutrient availability over the years, notably of P, but also of nutrients that are potentially toxic to plants, especially Cu and Zn. The apparent recovery of nutrients by commercial grain and cover crops decreased with the increasing number of PS applications to the soil. Accumulated dry matter production of the crops and maize grain yield were highest at an annual application rate of 80 m³ ha-1 PS. However, common bean yield increased up to 20 m³ ha-1 PS, showing that the crop to be grown should be considered to define the application rate.

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Models for pasture yield in response to phosphate application

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1071/ea96106 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 37 (8) ◽

pp. 905 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

D. A. Ratkowsky ◽

P. W. G. Sale ◽

S. B. Tennakoon ◽

D. Johnson ◽

P. G. Simpson

Keyword(s):

Dry Matter ◽

Goodness Of Fit ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Rational Functions ◽

Application Rate ◽

Dry Matter Production ◽

Linear Growth Rate ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Matter Production ◽

Pasture Yield

Summary. This paper examines the response of total annual dry matter production of pastures to a range of rates of phosphate application supplied in fertilisers from various sources. Data from the National Reactive Phosphate Rock Project were used to compare the goodness-of-fit of 2 non-linear regression models, the Mitscherlich and rational functions models, both of which are convex curves lacking an inflection point. These models were fitted to the data from the 2 ‘core experiments’ and tended to give closely equivalent results, with the Mitscherlich model fitting somewhat better in two-thirds of the cases. Generally, both models fitted the data well, with a test for ‘lack of fit’ being non-significant. The models proved capable of fitting all the various responses observed in the 2 experiments, including: (i) the ‘classic’ asymptotic regression response where dry matter production rises gradually with decreasing slope from a baseline at zero added phosphorus to approach an asymptote at very high rates of phosphate application; (ii) a very rapid rise at a low phosphate rate to an almost constant response value with increasing phosphate application; and (iii) an almost linear growth rate with non-zero slope throughout the phosphate application rate range. The Mitscherlich model was generally more stable for the less classical responses, and its parameters were consistently easy to interpret. Hence, the Mitscherlich model is recommended as suitable for describing pasture yield as a function of phosphate application. A new measure of relative fertiliser performance is proposed, based upon the area below the curved line defined by the fitted Mitscherlich curve, which is simultaneously above the horizontal straight line representing the baseline of no added phosphate. The ratio of this area calculated for a test fertiliser to the similarly defined area calculated for a soluble reference fertiliser such as superphosphate serves as a relative performance index. Also, when the area calculated for the reference fertiliser is less than 10% of the total area under the fitted curve, the site is considered to be unresponsive to phosphate addition.

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