ALBERT

Description: 1. Data on the crude-protein content and crudeprotein production of five grass species (each sown with white clover) over the period 1954–56, at six levels of compound fertilizer application, are reported. Perennial rye-grass (S. 101), meadow fescue (S. 215), timothy (S. 48), cocksfoot (S. 26) and bent (N.Z. Browntop) were sown in 1953 at appropriate seed rates, each with 2 lb./acre S. 100 white clover. The fertilizer treatments were 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 cwt./ acre of a compound of composition 10% N, 4%P2O5, 9·5% K2O applied in the early spring of each of the years 1954–56. The swards were cut three times a year in 1954 and 1956, but only two cuts were possible in 1955.2. Bent mixtures had a higher crude-protein content than any other mixture in all years and (with one exception) at every cut within years. Differences between other mixtures were smaller and often erratic, though timothy invariably had the lowest crude-protein content at the second cut and cocksfoot at the third. Application of the fertilizer raised the crude-protein level of the herbage at the first cut, but depressed it in subsequent cuts.3. The bent mixture gave the highest yield of crude-protein per acre followed by the timothy mixture, while the lowest yield was produced by the perennial rye-grass mixture. The bent mixture differed from all others in its distribution of crudeprotein production over the season, producing less at the first cuts and more at the second and third cuts. This reflects its pattern of production of dry-matter. Response to spring application of fertilizer in terms of crude-protein yield declined rapidly from cut to cut. Over the whole period of the experiment 1 cwt./acre/ annum of fertilizer containing 10% N gave a response of about 0·5 cwt. crude-protein/annum.

Description: 1. Data on the dry-matter production of five grass species (each sown with white clover), over the period 1954–56, at six levels of compound fertilizer application, are reported. Perennial ryegrass (S. 101), meadow fescue (S. 215), timothy (S. 48), cocksfoot (S. 26) and bent (N.Z. browntop) were sown in 1953 at appropriate seed rates, each with 2 lb. per acre S. 100 white clover. The fertilizer treatments were 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 cwt. per acre of a compound of composition 10% N, 4% P2O5 and 9·5% K2O, applied in the early spring of each of the years 1954–56. The swards were cut three times a year in 1954 and 1956, but only two cuts were possible in 1955.2. The timothy mixture gave the highest total production of dry-matter over the 3 years, the bent and perennial rye-grass mixtures giving the lowest total productions. Differences between mixtures in annual yield varied in sign and in magnitude from year to year. For example, bent gave the lowest yield in 1954, but outyielded the meadow fescue and the cocksfoot mixtures in 1955, and the perennial rye-grass mixture in 1956. As regards the distribution of dry-matter production over the season, it was found that bent differed from the other mixtures in that a higher proportion of its annual yield was produced at the second and third cuts.3. There were significant linear relationships of dry-matter yield to fertilizer application rate in most of the data. On average over the 3 years, 1·6 cwt. of dry-matter were produced for each cwt. of spring applied fertilizer in the first cut, 0·7 cwt. per cwt. of fertilizer in the second cut, while very small and non-significant responses were found in the third cut. There was no evidence of systematic differences between grass mixtures in response to fertilizer level.4. The yield of clover dry-matter in 1956 (the third harvest year) was least from the cocksfoot and timothy swards, and was significantly and linearly depressed by fertilizer application in all three cuts.