ISSN:
1365-2494
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
In the Netherlands interest in fertilizing permanent grassland with nitrogen started about 1930. Since then many field experiments have been carried out on the effects of this treatment on grass production, and a short survey is given of the most important results up to c. 1940.The effect of nitrogen fertilization is however not restricted to the production of grass. Many other factors in farm management are affected by it, e.g. stocking rate, cattle feeding, hay- and silage-making, labour efficiency, etc., and experiments on a farm scale were necessary. These experiments started in the late thirties and were resumed after the war, on the so-called nitrogen experimental farms. In this project co-operation between the Department of Agriculture and the nitrogen industries in the Netherlands was established. The aim was to study the influence of nitrogen at a level of about 200 kg N/ha. From these farms data were collected on fertilization, production of grassland, botanical composition, cattle feeding, animal production, animal health and financial results. Results are given for six farms, which took part in the experiment for at least 7 years.The following conclusions were reached:〈list xml:id="l1" style="custom"〉1The quantity and the quality of grassland production did not suffer from the application of high amounts of nitrogen, and there was no evidence of decreasing N-effect with time.2Animal production was increased, due to a higher stocking rate as a result of the increased grass production, and production per animal was maintained at a very high level.3Animal health on the experimental farms compared favourably with the country average, though there were some difficulties. On highly intensive farms, special attention should be paid to the supply of energy, copper and magnesium.4The financial results of the experimental farms are in general much better than those of comparable farms using less nitrogen. An important factor is higher labour efficiency due to the increased stocking rate.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2494.1963.tb00356.x
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