The effect of applications of various forms of sulfur on the yields and quality of grass forage

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Climadiagram for the experimental station.

Table I. Agrochemical properties of the soil before establishing the experiment (0–20 cm).

	Cox (%)			Content of available nutrients (mg kg^-1)
Soil category	0–10 cm	10–20 cm	pH/ CaCl2	P	K	Ca	Mg	Swater-soluble
Moderately heavy soil	5.06	3.40	5.6	7	111	2777	315	14.2

Table II. Experimental factors evaluated and factor level.

Experimental factor	Level of factor
Years	2004
	2005
	2006
Variants	Control unfertilised with sulfur
	Ammonium sulfate
	Elemental sulfur
	Gypsum
	Foliar elemental sulfur
Cuts	First
	Second

Table III. Harvest dates in the three years of the experiment.

Year	First cut	Second cut
2004	2 June	18 August
2005	15 June	18 August
2006	20 June	30 August

Table IV. Yields of dry matter of grass forage in the individual cuts (t ha⁻¹)

	First Cut	Second Cut
	±s x	±s x
Year
2004	4.01^a±0.75	2.74^b±0.73
2005	2.78^b±0.65	1.40^a±0.51
2006	6.17^c±1.94	3.38^c±0.97
Variant
Control	4.02^a±1.72	2.84^a±1.38
Ammonium sulfate	4.59^a±2.68	2.54^a±1.47
Elemental sulfur	3.89^a±1.12	2.21^a±0.77
Gypsum	4.51^a±2.13	2.47^a±1.16
Foliar elemental sulfur	4.59^a±1.71	2.47^a±0.78
^aAverage values of the individual variants do not differ significantly (p<0.95) if they have the same superscript.

Table V. Analysis of variance of the characters.

		Mean square
Factor	D.f.	Yield of dry matter		Sulfur content in dry matter		N/S ratio		Yield of sulfur		Yield of nitrogen		Nitrogen substances content		Nett energy lactation content
Year	2	54.191	***	0.096031	***	17.467		683.341	***	28070.2	***	16339	***	1.568	***
Cut	1	74.085	***	0.027317	*	341.763	***	269.621	**	64930.5	***	15199	***	3.575	***
Variants of fertilisation	4	0.775	NS	0.012704	*	7.191	NS	47.509	NS	94.6	NS	590		0.131	NS
Year ×cut	2	5.408	*	0.006189	NS	69.067	***	47.711	NS	6001.1	***	9955	***	0.525	***
Year×variants of fert.	8	1.220	NS	0.007553	NS	8.179	NS	36.904	NS	712.8	NS	513	NS	0.070	NS
Cut×variants of fert.	4	0.709	NS	0.007731	NS	16.323	*	42.387	NS	153.3	NS	74	NS	0.033	NS
Year×cut×variant of fert.	8	0.432	NS	0.003714	NS	4.843	NS	29.255	NS	242.6	NS	51	NS	0.004	NS
Error	60	1.193		0.004856		6.288		25.239		574.1		260		0.063
D.f.=Degree of freedom. DM = Dry matter. * = α ≤ 0.05. ** = α ≤ 0.01. *** = α ≤ 0.001. NS = insignificant.

Table VI. Average values of the characters and significance of their differences evaluated by Fisher's Test.

			Yield of dry matter (t ha^−1)	Sulfur content in dry matter (%)	N/S ratio	Yield of sulphur (kg ha^−1)	Yield of nitrogen (kg ha^−1)	Nitrogen substances content (g kg^−1 of dry matter)	Nett energy lactation content (MJ kg^−1 of dry matter)
Factor	Level of factor	n	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x
Year	2004	30	3.37^b±0.97	0.17^a±0.02	9.2^ab±3.86	5.8^a±1.71	55.3^a±31.60	128.54^a±29.65	5.22^a±0.36
	2005	30	2.09^a±0.91	0.23^b±0.06	9.7^b±3.04	4.7^a±1.79	43.2^a±17.48	131.60^a±11.69	5.67^b±0.16
	2006	30	4.78^c±2.07	0.29^c±0.11	8.2^a±3.49	13.4^b±9.45	101.2^b±53.24	170.40^b±31.31	5.43^c±0.42
Variants of fertilisation	Unfertilised control	18	3.43^a±1.63	0.20^a±0.05	10.0^a±3.59	6.6^a±3.44	65.2^a±41.81	138.09^a±25.50	5.36^a±0.34
	Ammonium sulfate	18	3.56^a±2.35	0.22^a±0.05	8.7^a±2.73	7.7^ab±5.35	69.8^a±58.24	144.31^ab±32.83	5.42^ab±0.34
	Elemental sulfur	18	3.05^a±1.27	0.23^ab±0.07	9.2^a±3.33	6.9^a±3.19	63.8^a±37.80	152.65^b±44.73	5.58^b±0.54
	Gypsum	18	3.49^a±1.97	0.27^b±0.15	8.5^a±4.74	10.7^b±12.86	67.5^a±49.43	143.18^ab±28.46	5.42^a±0.36
	Elemental sulfur foliar	18	3.53^a±1.69	0.23^ab±0.06	8.5^a±2.93	7.9^ab±4.02	66.4^a±36.44	139.33^a±25.48	5.42^ab±0.25
Cut	First	45	4.32^b±1.63	0.21^a±0.10	10.9^b±2.91	9.7^b±8.71	93.4^b±46.21	156.51^a±27.76	5.64^a±0.26
	Second	45	2.51^a±2.35	0.25^b±0.07	7.0^a±2.93	6.2^a±3.46	39.7^a±19.82	130.52^b±25.31	5.24^b±0.38
Average values of the individual variants do not differ significantly (p>0.95) if they have the same superscript. n=number of observations.

Table VII. Average value of exchangeable soil reaction and average content of available nutrients in soil after the 2nd cut (mg kg⁻¹) and significance of their differences evaluated by Fisher's Test.

			pH	P	K	Ca	Mg	S
Factor	Level of factor	n	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x	±s x
Year	2004	15	5.37^a±0.20	8.21^ab±2.00	95.04^a±14.51	2715.0^a±357.54	303.82^b±36.49	31.10^b±8.46
	2005	15	5.50^a±0.21	9.76^b±5.84	88.14^a±10.60	2539.7^a±251.67	269.62^a±26.93	18.42^a±2.69
	2006	15	5.40^a±0.24	5.72^a±1.18	73.81^a±8.30	2541.2^a±227.37	260.31^a±29.31	18.37^a±3.12
Variants of fertilisation	Unfertilised control	9	5.43^a±0.17	9.36^a±6.32	82.46^a±13.09	2596.4^a±194.66	277.93^a±36.98	18.91^a±4.01
	Ammonium sulfate	9	5.46^a±0.23	7.93^a±4.49	83.14^a±11.72	2672.7^a±230.23	274.63^a±36.55	24.32^b±9.85
	Elemental sulfur	9	5.38^a±0.17	7.48^a±3.54	83.77^a±14.06	2548.3^a±241.09	292.70^a±38.09	23.50^b±2.56
	Gypsum	9	5.37^a±0.23	7.06^a±1.61	84.24^a±13.44	2506.3^a±253.04	274.82^a±36.48	27.14^c±12.43
	Elemental sulfur foliar	9	5.48^a±0.29	7.66^a±2.45	94.70^b±17.93	2669.3^a±475.20	269.51^a±35.19	19.26^a±5.22
Average values of individual variants do not differ significantly (P>0.95) if they have the same superscript. n=number of observations.