home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Nitrogen transfer from forage legumes to nine neighbouring plants in a multi-species grassland

Pirhofer-Walzl, K.; Rasmussen, J.; Høgh-Jensen, H.; Eriksen, J.; Søegaard, K. and Rasmussen, J. (2012) Nitrogen transfer from forage legumes to nine neighbouring plants in a multi-species grassland. Plant and Soil, 350, pp. 71-84.

[thumbnail of 20613.pdf]
Preview
PDF - English
743kB


Summary

Legumes play a crucial role in nitrogen supply to grass-legume mixtures for ruminant fodder. To quantify N transfer from legumes to neighbouring plants in multi-species grasslands we established a grass-legume-herb mixture on a loamy-sandy site in Denmark. White clover (Trifolium repens L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) were leaf-labelled with 15N enriched urea during one growing season. N transfer to grasses
(Lolium perenne L. and xfestulolium), white clover, red clover, lucerne, birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus
L.), chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), plantain (Plantago
lanceolata L.), salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor L.)and caraway (Carum carvi L.) was assessed. Neighbouring plants contained greater amounts of N derived from white clover (4.8 gm-2) compared with red clover (2.2 gm-2) and lucerne (1.1 gm-2). Grasses having fibrous roots received greater amounts of N from legumes than dicotyledonous plants which generally have taproots. Slurry application mainly increased N transfer from legumes to grasses. During the growing season the three legumes transferred approximately 40 kg N ha-1 to neighbouring plants. Below-ground N transfer from legumes to neighbouring plants differed among nitrogen donors and nitrogen receivers and may depend on root characteristics and regrowth strategies of plant species in the multi-species grassland.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:15N transfer; Grass-legume-herb grassland; Root characteristics; Trifolium repens L.; Trifolium pratense L.; Medicago sativa L.
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
Trifolium repens
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7918
Subjects: Crop husbandry > Production systems > Pasture and forage crops
Research affiliation: Denmark > DARCOF III (2005-2010) > ORGGRASS - Grass-clover in organic dairy farming
Deposited By: Kirkegaard, Lene/LKI
ID Code:20613
Deposited On:26 Mar 2012 08:41
Last Modified:15 Nov 2012 11:38
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics