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Influence of Phosphorus Deficiency of the Soil on the Protein Content of Alfalfa 1
Author(s) -
Alway F. J.,
Nesom G. H.
Publication year - 1945
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1945.00021962003700070007x
Subject(s) - chemist , soil water , citation , phosphorus , chemistry , mathematics , library science , environmental science , computer science , soil science , organic chemistry
HE influence of phosphate fertilization on the protein content of T legume hays appears not yet satisfactorily established although we have found data bearing upon the subject in some 2 0 papers, the earliest from New Jersey in 1914 and the latest from Indiana in 1944. Eleven of these studies deal wholly or in part with alfalfa. The results reported are conflicting, but on the whole, tend to support the assumption that usually where a phosphate fertilizer markedly increases the yield of a legume it raises the protein content of the hay. A thorough study of the subject is desirable, especially in the case of alfalfa, the most important hay crop of this country, in 1942 it occupying over 15 million acres. The present paper has been suggested by the analysis of pairs of samples of hay from 5 2 fields of alfalfa in western Minnesota, on nearly all of which phosphates caused marked increases in both yield and phosphorus content.