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Manuring of grassland. II. —Use of Nitrogen
Author(s) -
Raymond W. F.
Publication year - 1953
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740040902
Subject(s) - grassland , nitrogen , agronomy , acre , environmental science , nitrogen fertilizer , fertilizer , biology , chemistry , organic chemistry
The use of nitrogen on grassland on the general farm is considered, particularly in relation to the contribution of the clovers to the sward. This is reduced both by heavy nitrogen applications and by unsuitable management. With low clover content in the sward, fertilizer nitrogen becomes the main source of nitrogen for the grass. Not only does this demand a high level of fertilizing, but flexibility in management, which is one of the main advantages from nitrogen manuring, is lost. Thus on the general farm nitrogen should be used at a level which allows an effective clover contribution to the sward: annual dressings of up to 4 cwt. of ‘Nitro‐Chalk’ per acre can be used, with suitable management. However, a consideration of the availability of nitrogen fertilizers shows that even this level of application is possible only on a small proportion of our grasslands. It is concluded that we should now be encouraging the widespread use of medium levels of nitrogen fertilizing, allowing both an adequate clover contribution in our swards and the considerable increases in production possible with these fertilizers.