The influence of harvest management and fertilizers on herbage yields of cool-season grasses grown in the Aspen Parkland of northeastern Saskatchewan

Abstract

. 2000. The influence of harvest management and fertilizers on herbage yields of cool-season grasses grown in the Aspen Parkland of northeastern Saskatchewan. Can. J. Plant Sci. 80: 747-753. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of harvest and fertilizer management on the herbage yield of various grass cultivars grown in the Aspen Parkland region of northeastern Saskatchewan. A series of three experiments were set out: site 1 at Pathlow, Gray Luvisolic soil, 1980; site 2 at Melfort, Deep Black Chernozemic soil, 1979; and site 3 at Pathlow, 1986. At site 1, the design was a split-split plot with fertilizer treatments as mainplots (unfertilized and fertilized, initially with 11N-22P kg ha -1 incorporated 5 cm into soil and thereafter, 50N-13P kg ha -1 broadcast each year). Ten grass cultivars were seeded as subplots and harvest systems as subsubplots (two-cut and four-cut). At site 2 Melfort, the experimental design was similar to site 1, but without the fertilizer treatments. Fertilizer was applied to all plots at the same rates as site 1. At site 3, Pathlow, 14 grass cultivars were seeded with the same experimental design as site 2, but 10 kg S ha -1 was applied each year with the N and P fertilizer. At site 1 Pathlow, the only experiment with the unfertilized control, fertilizer increased the average herbage yield to 2.47 t ha -1 from 1.42 t ha -1 for unfertilized control plots. Frequent cutting (four-cut system) showed reduced annual yields of 1.70, 5.28 and 1.93 t ha -1 compared with 2.19, 7.08, and 2.87 t ha -1 (two-cut system), respectively, for sites 1, 2 (5-yr period) and 3 (7-yr period). A greater response to fertilizer was observed with the 2-cut system, 1.19 t ha -1 , than with the four-cut system, 0.91 t ha -1 , which resulted in a fertilizer × cutting management interaction at site 1. With some exceptions, most of the species were not significantly different in ranking based on herbage yield over the three test sites, but meadow bromegrass [Bromus biebersteinii (Roem & Schult.)] ranked higher in yield on the less fertile Pathlow Gray Wooded soil sites than on the more fertile Melfort Deep Black soil site. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum L.) ranked high in herbage yield at all three sites. Crested wheatgrass, smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) and meadow bromegrass, the most commonly grown species in Saskatchewan, yielded well under the simulated hay and pasture conditions. . À l'emplacement 1, le protocole expérimental était disposé en parcelles bi-divisées, les traitements de fumure formant les grandes parcelles : sans fumure ou fumure de départ de 11 kg N/22 kg P ha -1 en incorporation et 50 kg N-3 kg P ha -1 à la volée chaque année par la suite. Dix cultivars de graminées constituaient les sous-parcelles et les régimes d'exploitation (2 ou 4 coupes) les parcelles du second degré. À l'emplacement 2, l'expérience était disposée en parcelles divisées simples, un seul régime de fumure étant appliqué à toutes les parcelles aux mêmes doses qu'à l'emplacement 1. L'emplacement 3, ...

The influence of harvest management and fertilizer application on seasonal yield, crude protein concentration and N offtake of grasses in northeast Saskatchewan

“…These results are similar to those reported by Fairey (1991), Simons (1996, 1998) and Bittman et al (2000). There was a significant fertilizer × harvest interac- For personal use only.…”

“…Thus, there is a need to evaluate the response of pastures to nutrients. McCaughey and Simons (1996) and Bittman et al (2000) showed that frequent harvesting often reduces the yield response to applied N. There was, similarly, a tendency for N use efficiency and recovery of fertilizer N to be somewhat lower for multi-cut than for hay management, although in a study by McCaughey and Simons (1998), there did not appear to be any more nitrate-N left in the soil of the frequently cut grass plots than hay-cut plots in autumn. In contrast, herbage N concentrations were generally higher under frequent harvest, because the plants were less mature at harvest, whereas the total N offtake could be higher or lower with frequent harvesting depending on species, soil, and year (Fairey 1991;Simons 1996, 1998).…”

“…There are approximately 3 million ha of improved grassland in this region, which are used primarily for pasture, and most of these pastures are used for cow-calf operations and are on marginal lands. Research conducted near Brandon, MB, Melfort, SK, and Beaverlodge, AB, showed that frequent harvesting of grasses (simulated grazing) resulted in lower yield but greater late-season growth than harvesting grasses under a typical two-cut hay system (Fairey 1991;Simons 1996, 1998;Bittman et al 2000). These studies showed that grasses respond differently to frequent cutting.…”

Impact and management of crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) in the northern Great Plains

“…Root growth is suppressed by defoliation in non-native grasses including crested wheatgrass (Richards 1984). Defoliation also decreases aboveground biomass yield, but conversely increases late season growth (McCaughey and Simons 1998;Bittman et al 2000). Seed production is also decreased by defoliation (Hansen and Wilson 2006).…”

Yield, Forage Quality, and Mineral Content of Six Introduced Cool-Season Grass Species Grown for Hay in Eastern South Dakota

“…In eastern Nebraska and central Iowa, smooth bromegrass had equal to or greater yield than intermediate wheatgrass (23,24). Smooth bromegrass tends to have greater yield than the other bromegrass species (6,16); however, under irrigation meadow bromegrass yielded more than smooth bromegrass in western Canada (27). The yield of timothy was lower than intermediate wheatgrass but was not different from the three bromegrass species (Table 1).…”