NUTRINIONAL EVALUATION OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER OF BERSEEM 1- YIELD QUALITY RESPONSE

Mhsen, M.K.¹; H.M.A. Gaafar²; G.S. El-Santiel¹, H.M. El-Gendy² and E.A. El-Beltagi³

1-      Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt

2-      Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt

3-      Animal Production Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Dokki, Egypt

ABSTRACT

The experimental work was conducted during the two successive seasons to study the effect of the N fertilization rate of 0, 10 and 20 kg N/feddan during implantation on forage yield, composition, protein and energy yield, nitrogen recovery and output green forage per feddan.  Results revealed that the yield of green and dry forage during the 1^st and 2^nd seasons increased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing the level of N fertilization. The percentage of leaves increased significantly (P<0.05), but the percentage of stems decreased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing the level of N fertilization.

The contents of CP, EE and ash increased, but DM, OM, CF and NFE contents decreased in whole plant, leaves and stems with increasing the level of N fertilizer. Protein and energy yield, nitrogen recovery and output of forage yield increased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing the level of N fertilizer in both the 1^st and 2^nd seasons.

Key words: Berseem, nitrogen fertilizer, yield, composition and output.

 

INTRODUCTION

In Egypt, berseem (Trifolium alexandrium L.) is the main forage crop for animal feeding. It usually used fresh in winter and spring seasons from December till the end of May and as hay or silage in summer season (Saleh, 1986). The berseem area in Egypt was about 2.6 million feddan produce about 80 million ton green, 6.6 million ton TDN and 1.30 million ton DCP, which contribute 55.9% of TDN and 82.9% of DCP produced throughout the year. Berseem covers 45.9% of TDN and 124.5% of DCP of animal's requirements throughout the year or 91.8% of TDN and 249% of DCP of animal's requirements during winter feeding. The balancing of using berseem in animal's feeding were - 2.42 million tons TDN and + 0.45 million tons DCP (Abou-Slim and Bendary, 2005).

Dry matter production increased significantly at a rate of 75 kg N/ha but decreased significantly as the rate was doubled. Plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area per plant and leaf-stem ratio increased significantly in response to nitrogen fert1lization (Assaeed, 1994). Vuckovic et al. (2005) found different rates of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha-1) had strong positive effect on increasing the yield, crude protein, ash and fat contents of meadows, while, the negative on crude fiber content. The maximum DM yield was obtained in the test with 160 kg ha-1 nitrogen, amounting 4.44 ton ha-1, which was an increase of 2.04 ton ha-1 or 85% over the control.  

Vuckovic et al. (2006) reported that the investigation included five nitrogen fertilizer rates (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha-1) and undersowing with red clover and birdsfoot trefoil. Increase in nitrogen fertilization level resulted in corresponding increases in the quantity and quality of grass, while legumes and other herbages decreased. Maximum two-year average dry matter yield of 4.44 t ha-1 was achieved with the highest N rate (160 kg ha-1). The increase was 2.03 t ha-1 or 85.0% compared with the control. Increasing N rates increased the contents of protein, ash, fat, Cu, Co, and NO3, and reduced the contents of cellulose, K, P, Ca, Mg, S, Zn, and B.