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Yield and Vegetative and Chemical Composition of Forage Crops as Affected by Soil Treatment¹

ABSTRACT

Field studies were conducted on Ladino clover, orchardgrass, smooth bromegrass, and timothy. Each species was planted in a pure stand to determine its requirements with respect to P and K.

Increases of 30% to 80% in hay production were obtained when adequate K was applied. Split applications of K fertilizer were used instead of single large applications. Although the percentage P in the plant material increased with added increments of P, there was no appreciable yield response to P on most species above the lowest P rate. Phosphate needs of the crop for 3 to 4 years can be met by banding 50 to 100 pounds P₂O₅ per acre at seeding time.

Although liberal amounts of fertilizer potash were applied to the grasses studied there was nearly complete removal of applied K (79 to 94%). This points up the fact that it is not possible to increase the reserves of soil K when producing large yields of the forage grasses, smooth brome, orchard, or timothy on this and similar soils.

Competition for K between desirable forage species and undesirable weedy species has a pronounced influence on the longevity of the stand. By the spring of the third crop year, Ladino clover comprised less than 5% of the vegetation on low K plots. The remaining vegetation was predominantly the weedy grasses, Kentucky bluegrass, and bentgrass.

¹ Contribution No. 868, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Amherst, Mass. Presented before Division IV, Soil Science Society of America, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 19, 1952. Part of a dissertation submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy, University of Massachusetts.

² Instructor in Agronomy, Research Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Agronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, respectively.