Premium
Soil solution nitrogen concentrations in a Japanese lawngrass ( Zoysia japonica Steud.) and a tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) pasture under cattle grazing
Author(s) -
Gotoh Taishin,
Kaneko Makoto,
Kurokawa Yuzo,
Tanaka Haruo,
Suzuki Sohzoh,
Kanda Shuhei
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
grassland science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.388
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1744-697X
pISSN - 1744-6961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-697x.2011.00231.x
Subject(s) - pasture , festuca arundinacea , agronomy , grazing , zoysia japonica , fertilizer , festuca , poaceae , biology , chemistry
Soil solution nitrogen (N) concentrations in a non‐fertilized Japanese lawngrass ( Zoysia japonica Steud.; JL, native species) pasture were compared with those in a fertilized tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.; TF, improved species) pasture from May to December (late spring to early winter). Both pastures were grazed rotationally by breeding beef cattle in May–October. The TF pasture received a summer topdressing with compound fertilizer (8 g m –2 N, P 2 O 5 and K 2 O). Annual herbage N consumption by cattle was lower in the JL (9.9 g N m –2 ) than in the TF (19.8 g N m –2 ). Soil solution N concentrations at the 10 and 30 cm depths were lower in the JL pasture (<0.61 mg L –1 ) than in the TF pasture (0.15–7.4 mg L –1 ) from mid‐summer or early autumn to late autumn. In the JL pasture the soil solution N concentrations at the 10 cm depth remained low irrespective of the soil inorganic N concentrations in the 0–10 cm layer ( r = 0.33, P > 0.1), whereas the soil solution N in the TF pasture showed an increasing tendency with increasing soil inorganic N for the same soil depth and layer ( r = 0.87, P < 0.1). The non‐significant response of soil solution N to soil inorganic N in the JL pasture suggests that the lower soil solution N concentrations in this native grass pasture may not be explained only by the lack of fertilizer application to the pasture.