Herbage, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen Yields of Winter-Season Forages on High-Phosphorus Soil Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In climates where cool seasons can produce a forage crop, annual grasses and forbs can be used on dairies to recycle nutrients back to the animals and to phytoremediate soils high in P or N. In northcentral Texas, on a Windthorst fine sandy loam (fine, mixed, thermic, Udic Paleustalf) with 250 mg P kg1, an ondairy trial measured yields of dry matter (DM), N, and P, as well as fiber fractions of five cool season legumes, six grasses, and two brassicas. Some grasses yielded >8 Mg herbage DM during high rainfall years, whereas the most productive legumes and brassicas could only match half that production. Because the soils were high in nitrateN and plantavailable P, concentrations of these were high in herbage, resulting in >150 kg N ha1 yield in seven of the entries and >20 kg P in eight entries during a highrainfall year. Potential for extracting, fixing, and sequestering N and P, combined with generally low fiber concentrations, indicated that some of these forages hold promise for nutrient recycling or phytoremediation of highN or P dairy soils with the added benefit of producing nutritious forage for the dairies.

published proceedings

  • AGRONOMY JOURNAL

author list (cited authors)

  • Muir, J. P., & Bow, J. R.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Muir, James P||Bow, John R

publication date

  • July 2009

publisher