Original scientific paper
Reaction of cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) in grass-clover mixture on N fertilization and grazing
Marcela Andreata-Koren
; Visoko gospodarsko učilište u Križevcima, M. Demerca 1, Križevci
Mladen Knežević
Josip Leto
Toni Safner
Marijana Ivanek-Martinčić
Zvjezdana Augustinović
Abstract
Grazing is the most common way of using a hill and mountain areas because of their specific agro-ecological conditions. Cocksfoot is a grass with high productivity and quality, and it is very good for sowing in the sward for grazing. Because of its good adaptability to different growing conditions, especially in very dry and cold areas, it is excellent in relation to some other good grasses, which can not be raised in such areas. The aim of the experiment was to determine effect of N application (0-N0 and 150 kg ha-1 year-1-N150) and rotational grazing by cattle (C) and sheep (S), and their interaction on the cocksfoot sown in a mixture of smooth-stalked meadow grass (Poa pratensis L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) in hill mountain areas. In a three-year average, the application of 150 kg ha-1 N had significant impact on cocksfoot population density (number of tillers m-2), and it was 51.4 % higher than the recorded one before grazing (P<0.05) and 42.2 % higher after grazing (P<0.01) in comparison to N0. The application of 150 kg ha-1 N resulted in significantly higher cocksfoot dry matter (DM) yield for 38.6 % (P<0.01) and 15.3 % higher cocksfoot share in the total mixture in relation to N0 (P<0.01). Grazing management and grazing management interaction with N rate did not significantly affect the population density of individual years. However, in the three-year average, grazing management significantly affected cocksfoot DM (P<0.01) and its percentage in the total DM mixture (P<0.01). Cattle grazing resulted in 9.9 % higher cocksfoot DM yield and 15.2 % higher cocksfoot percentage in pasture. Interaction of grazing management and N-level had significant influence on the percentage of cocksfoot DM in grass-clover mixture. On cattle grazed areas fertilized with 150 kg ha-1 N, the percentage of cocksfoot DM was the highest (74. 07%), while the lowest percentage of cocksfoot DM was recorded on the sheep grazed areas without N (55.12%).
Keywords
cocksfoot; population density; nitrogen; grazing
Hrčak ID:
40530
URI
Publication date:
5.9.2009.
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