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Effect of time of application of nitrogenous fertilizer on development of white clover in an autumn‐sown mixed sward
Author(s) -
LAIDLAW A. S.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1985.tb01783.x
Subject(s) - sowing , agronomy , stolon , perennial plant , biology , fertilizer , nitrogen , trifolium repens , nitrogen fixation , chemistry , organic chemistry
Nitrogenous fertilizer was applied to autumn‐sown swards (soil N MAFF index 1) containing perennial ryegrass (cv. Cropper) and white clover (v. Huia) either at sowing or when nodulation was underway (38 days after sowing) at 0, 30, 60 or 120 kg N ha −1 . Each treatment received 0, 45 or 90 kg ha −1 the following spring. Nitrogen at sowing or nodulation had no effect on net rate of growth of clover plants but increased the mean number of initiated stolons per plant (mean of 17% more than unfertilized controls in late autumn) and decreased the rate of N 2 fixation until late in autumn. Seed‐bed N had a greater reducing effect on N 2 fixation than N applied at nodulation. Nitrogen at sowing also reduced the nodule number per plant. Response of DM to N was not significant at the establishment harvest but was significant at the first harvest in the next year. The response to autumn applied N was lower than that to N applied in spring. It is concluded that applied N is unlikely to be necessary for grass‐clover seed beds with an N index of 1.