Response of a Georgia 5 tall fescue‐common bermudagrass mixture to season of nitrogen fertilization on the Coastal Plain

Abstract

Georgia 5 tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) has the potential to grow in a mixture with warm‐season perennial grasses and provide a year‐round permanent pasture on the Coastal Plain. Season of fertilization with nitrogen (N) was evaluated as a determinant of yield and botanical composition on a Georgia 5 tall fescue‐common bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] stand on a slope extending from a dry Bowie sandy loam (Plinthic Paleudults) soil to a moist Beauregard sandy loam (Plinthaquic Paleudults) soil. Fertilization with 150 kg N ha⁻¹ split into three applications in the cool season (November, January, and March) over three years resulted in greater tall fescue survival (77% basal cover) than an equal amount of N in the warm season (May, July, and September) or the two N treatments combined (42 and 52% tall fescue basal cover) by March 1998. Tall fescue yields were greatest in May. The harvest frequency of once every two months was perhaps too infrequent, thus allowing shade effects to combine with summer heat and drought stress to limit stand density and fall growth of tall fescue. Although invading plant species were affected by position on the slope and associated moisture conditions, neither stand density nor forage production of tall fescue was affected by location. Tall fescue stands were essentially eliminated by the atypically hot and dry conditions in the summer of 1998. Survival of this mixed Stand of cool‐season and warm‐season perennial grasses On this west Louisiana Coastal Plain site through several years prior to the 1998 drought indicates potential usefulness of such pasture mixtures. Stand density of tall fescue was enhanced by limiting fertilization with N to the cool season only. Defoliation management to optimize density of tall fescue stands in this environment needs further evaluation.

Notes

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