Tifton 85 grass responses to different nitrogen levels and cutting intervals

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of five levels of N and two regrowth intervals on the structural, productive, and nutritional characteristics of Tifton 85 grass (Cynodon spp). The experiment was conducted in a hay production field at the State University of West Paraná, planted in 2004 with Cynodon spp. cv. Tifton 85. The experiment was established in a randomized block design with factorial treatments of five N fertilization amounts (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha -1 cut -1 ) applied as urea after each cut, and two regrowth intervals (28 and 35 d), with four replicates. N application promoted changes in plant structure, such as increased canopy height, stem length, leaf elongation rate, and dry mass (DM) production. The greatest N use efficiency, considering the four harvests, occurred in the plot with 25 kg N ha -1 cut -1 at the 35-d interval, with a production of 13.79 kg DM kg -1 of N applied. A nutritional analysis indicated that 100 kg ha -1 of N cut -1 promoted higher crude protein (CP) at 28 d, with the highest concentration observed in the fourth cut (208.2 g kg -1 DM) and the lowest in the second cut (140.12 g kg -1 DM). The content average in the four cuts for CP and LIG at 28 days of regrowth was 175.85 and 104.33 kg -1 g MS and at 35 days of regrowth interval was of 164.45 and 118.65 g kg -1 DM, respectively. No differences were found between regrowth intervals in the contents of mineral matter and acid detergent fiber (ADF). Environmental factors including the wide variation in precipitation (greater than 200 mm between the peak in December 2010 and the lowest in March 2011) greatly influenced Tifton 85 grass production, affecting DM and the nutritional value of the forage in each cut. Key words: Biomass. Forage quality. Grazing. Management. Persistence. Stocking. ResumoO objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a influência de cinco doses de nitrogênio (N) em duas idades de rebrota no capim Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp.) sobre as características estruturais, produtivas e na composição bromatológica. O experimento foi instalado no campo de produção de feno da UNIOESTE, campus de Marechal Cândido Rondon. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial 5x2, sendo cinco doses de nitrogênio (0, 25, 50, 75 e 100 kg ha -1 ) aplicados em cada corte, aplicadas na forma de uréia, duas idades de rebrota (28 e 35 dias) com quatro repetições e quatro cortes.

Application of swine wastewater for irrigation of Tifton 85 grass: Part I-productivity and nutritional quality

“…The presence of nitrogen positively influenced the TFP and LSP in the cycles (Fig 5.c, (Quaresma et al, 2011;Gomes et al, 2015b;Taffarel et al, 2016;Sanches et al, 2017). Sanches et al (2017) and Quaresma et al (2011) In relation to the SW doses applied in Tifton 85 grass ( Fig 4A), other authors have also observed the occurrence of increasing linear behaviour in dry matter yield.…”

“…Higher values observed in this work (33.6 and 31.7% in the lowest and the highest dose respectively), is possibly due to higher dose of SW adopted in this experiment. Taffarel et al (2016) and Sanches et al (2017), studied different nitrogen doses (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha -1 and 25, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha -1 , respectively) but did not observe any effect with respect to relation to the cycle. It is understood that the nutritional responses are smaller and less evident than those of dry matter accumulation.…”

“…Taffarel et al (2016) reported an increase of up to 13.8 kg day -1 of DM for each kg of applied N, in an experiment with nitrogen doses. Gomes et al (2015b) and Sanches et al (2017) observed increase of 31.4 and 62.1 Kg day -1 of DM in irrigated Tifton 85 with nitrogen use at doses of 60 and 75 Kg of N, respectively, compared to the non-irrigated.…”

“…Nitrogen fertilization has been a subsequent strategy to promote pasture intensification, with increasing linear responses in Tifton 85 (Quaresma et al, 2011;Gomes et al, 2015b;Taffarel et al, 2016;Sanches et al, 2017). Taffarel et al (2016) reported an increase of up to 13.8 kg day -1 of DM for each kg of applied N, in an experiment with nitrogen doses.…”

The utilization of tropical legumes to provide nitrogen to pastures: A review

“…Ipean) (Fagundes et al, 2005), Marandu palisadegrass under continuous stocking (Mesquita et al, 2010) and rotational stocking (Gimenes et al, 2011;Costa et al, 2016). Taffarel et al (2016) observed that the N fertilization increased dry matter production because altered the structural characteristics of the plants, such as a higher canopy, longer stems, higher leaf elongation. Costa et al (2016) founded that topdressing N fertilization in Marandu palisadegrass increases dry matter production and N-accumulation in plant tissues.…”