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Sulfur Source and Placement Effects on Forage Yield and Quality of Established Tall Fescue
Author(s) -
Sweeney Daniel W.,
Moyer Joseph L.
Publication year - 1997
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/agronj1997.00021962008900060010x
Subject(s) - dry matter , forage , agronomy , hay , festuca arundinacea , human fertilization , neutral detergent fiber , grazing , fertilizer , chemistry , yield (engineering) , ammonium sulfate , tiller (botany) , field experiment , zoology , ammonium , biology , poaceae , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy , chromatography
Previous research indicates that tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) may respond to S fertilization. However, data are limited concerning S management options to improve yield and quality of tall fescue. Thus, a field study was conducted from 1988 to 1990 to determine the effects of S source (ammonium thiosulfate [ATS] and ammonium sulfate [AS]), rate (17 and 34 kg S ha −1 ), and placement (broadcast, dribble [surface band], and knife [subsurface band]) on yield and quality of established, endophyte‐infected tall fescue. Compared with a no‐fertilizer control, adding N alone more than doubled hay production, to 7.15 Mg ha −1 , but the addition of fertilizer S had little effect on early‐season production or later hay yields. Sulfur fertilization, especially in the ATS form, increased tissue S concentration, lowered N/S ratios, and, to a lesser extent, increased tissue N concentration in the hay harvest. Few differences in measured parameters were related to S rate. Correlation analyses suggested that lowering N/S ratios may reduce neutral‐detergent fiber content and improve in vitro dry matter digestibility. Fescue sampled to simulate grazing in early spring was lower in yield and tissue S concentrations, but higher in N/S ratios, when S was knifed rather than surface applied. At hay harvest, knifing fertilizers increased yield approximately 20% and increased N concentration by 10% compared with surface application methods, but produced lower in vitro dry matter digestibility.