Fertiliser management for higher productivity of established lucerne pasture

Figures & data

Table 1  Fertiliser treatments

T1	Control (no nutrients applied)
T2	20 kg P/ha (as triple superphosphate)
T3	60 kg K/ha (as muriate of potash, KCl)
T4	4 kg Zn/ha (as zinc oxide)
T5	4 kg Zn/ha (as zinc sulphate)
T6	20 kg P/ha + 20kgS/ha (as single superphosphate)
T7	20 kg P/ha + 20 kg S/ha + 4 kg Zn/ha (P and S applied as single superphosphate, and Zn as zinc oxide)
T8	20 kg P/ha + 20 kg S/ha + 4 kg Zn/ha (as Zn-coated single superphosphate)
T9	20 kg P/ha + 20 kg S/ha + 4 kg Zn/ha (as single superphosphate + zinc sulphate)
T10	20 kg P/ha + 20 kg S/ha + 60 kg K/ha + 4 kg Zn/ha (as single superphosphate + muriate of potash + zinc sulphate)

Table 2  Effects of different nutrient treatments on herbage yield (shoot DM) of lucerne during different cuttings.

	Herbage yield (t/ha)
Treatment	Cut 1	Cut 2	Cut 3	Cut 4	Cut 5	Cut 6	Cut 7	Cut 8	Cut 9	Cut 10	Total
T1	0.35	0.79	0.60	0.72	1.15	1.98	1.92	2.08	1.63	1.45	12.67
T2	0.55	0.94	0.68	0.73	1.14	2.00	1.90	2.06	1.62	1.47	13.09
T3	0.59	0.97	0.73	0.75	1.17	2.08	1.88	2.04	1.60	1.49	13.30
T4	0.54	0.97	0.64	0.72	1.18	2.06	1.88	2.03	1.70	1.48	13.20
T5	0.67	1.29	0.76	0.74	1.20	2.02	1.90	2.04	1.66	1.50	13.78
T6	0.66	2.09	1.53	0.97	2.13	3.98	3.65	3.10	2.37	2.01	22.49
T7	0.77	2.44	1.91	1.19	2.10	4.33	4.00	3.59	2.94	2.92	26.19
T8	0.82	2.48	2.17	1.24	2.21	4.50	4.17	3.84	3.03	2.97	27.43
T9	0.90	2.60	2.21	1.31	2.33	4.60	4.31	4.01	3.11	3.08	28.46
T10	1.17	2.69	2.40	1.41	2.44	4.77	4.42	4.29	3.49	3.25	30.33
LSD 0.05	0.11	0.14	0.19	0.08	0.21	0.27	0.23	0.20	0.15	0.12	1.20

Table 3  Effects of different nutrient treatments on plant population reflecting longevity (persistence) of lucerne.

	Plant population (number of crowns/m^2)
Treatment	Harvest 1	Harvest 4	Harvest 6	Harvest 8	Harvest 10
T1	31.2	20.5	15.6	10.4	8.5
T2	30.1	23.3	18.3	12.3	9.4
T3	29.8	23.6	19.2	12.0	10.3
T4	28.5	24.0	19.0	12.4	9.8
T5	29.7	24.5	18.7	12.6	10.0
T6	28.6	26.3	24.6	20.9	15.3
T7	30.5	27.8	25.5	23.8	18.7
T8	31.0	28.2	26.3	24.5	19.4
T9	30.7	28.5	26.0	24.9	19.2
T10	30.8	29.6	27.5	26.4	23.3
LSD 0.05	NS	2.6	2.9	3.1	2.1

Table 4  Effect of different nutrient treatments on groundcover of lucerne before different harvestings.

	Groundcover (%)
Treatment	Harvest 1	Harvest 4	Harvest 6	Harvest 8	Harvest 10
T1	65	49	44	41	35
T2	74	56	46	44	37
T3	73	55	45	45	35
T4	72	57	44	42	38
T5	77	60	49	46	40
T6	80	76	62	58	56
T7	84	87	89	79	78
T8	86	88	90	82	79
T9	87	82	86	81	81
T10	94	92	96	90	88
LSD 0.05	7	5	8	9	6

Table 5  Effects of different nutrient treatments on leaf drop of lucerne at different harvestings.

	Leaf drop (%)
Treatment	Harvest 2	Harvest 4	Harvest 8
T1	37.3	40.0	43.7
T2	33.7	37.3	42.0
T3	33.2	31.7	41.6
T4	32.8	32.3	40.6
T5	31.7	34.7	40.0
T6	18.3	19.0	20.4
T7	16.2	16.7	19.3
T8	15.6	15.0	16.7
T9	15.8	14.5	16.2
T10	9.0	10.3	14.3
LSD 0.05	3.3	2.5	3.7

Table 6  Effects of different nutrient treatments on leaf-to-stem ratio of lucerne at different harvestings.

	Leaf-to-stem ratio
Treatment	Harvest 2	Harvest 4	Harvest 8
T1	0.71	0.67	0.64
T2	0.83	0.81	0.71
T3	0.84	0.80	0.70
T4	0.81	0.79	0.69
T5	0.84	0.83	0.72
T6	0.90	0.88	0.76
T7	0.94	0.93	0.84
T8	0.96	0.95	0.85
T9	0.97	0.95	0.86
T10	1.01	0.98	0.92
LSD 0.05	0.05	0.08	0.10

Table 7  Effects of different nutrient treatments on crude protein (CP) content and nutrient concentration of established lucerne at second cutting.

Treatment	CP (%)	P (mg/kg)	K (mg/kg)	S (mg/kg)	Ca (mg/kg)	Zn (mg/kg)	Cu (mg/kg)	Fe (mg/kg)	Mn (mg/kg)
T1	20.1	1890	19100	1280	1655	15.9	14.8	45.1	39.0
T2	21.9	2025	18900	1295	1701	15.7	13.5	46.3	40.1
T3	21.9	1905	19900	1305	1625	16.1	15.7	46.4	40.6
T4	22.5	1785	19100	1330	1642	21.6	14.7	44.7	39.6
T5	23.8	1870	19500	1410	1670	22.6	14.3	46.8	39.5
T6	25.0	2085	19600	1526	1732	16.8	16.3	47.3	38.8
T7	25.3	2050	19500	1630	1720	23.0	16.6	47.0	39.2
T8	25.6	2000	19352	1590	1765	22.5	16.3	47.5	39.4
T9	25.9	2110	19600	1660	1760	23.0	16.5	47.7	38.0
T10	25.9	2105	19735	1630	1745	23.2	16.0	46.9	39.9
LSD0.05	1.9	140	598	164	108	0.7	1.2	NS	NS

Fig. 1  Effects of different nutrient treatments on total nitrogen fixed (kg/ha) by lucerne over 2 years. The effects of nutrient treatments were significant and LSD_0.05 value was 24.

Table 8  Effect of different nutrient treatments on DM of weeds in lucerne at different harvestings.

	DM of weeds (t/ha)
Treatment	Harvest 4	Harvest 6	Harvest 8	Harvest 10	Total
T1	0.34	0.45	0.52	0.55	1.86
T2	0.31	0.4	0.49	0.54	1.74
T3	0.32	0.41	0.47	0.52	1.72
T4	0.3	0.39	0.48	0.52	1.69
T5	0.31	0.38	0.47	0.55	1.71
T6	0.27	0.33	0.4	0.42	1.42
T7	0.21	0.26	0.28	0.26	1.02
T8	0.21	0.25	0.29	0.28	1.03
T9	0.18	0.27	0.27	0.24	0.96
T10	0.16	0.19	0.21	0.17	0.73
LSD 0.05	0.06	0.07	0.1	0.08	0.22

Fig. 2  Relationship between lucerne plant population (number of lucerne crowns/m²) and herbage yield for (a) the 4th harvest and (b) the 10th harvest.

Fig. 3  Relationship between herbage yield of lucerne and weed biomass (dry weight) for the 10th harvest.

Fig. 4  Relationship between lucerne plant population (number of lucerne crowns/m²) and weed biomass (weeds dry weight) for the 10th harvest.