Title: Effect of superphosphate application and rhizobia inoculation on growth and forage quality of Medicago sativa in the Yellow River Delta
Abstract: This paper details the results of a field trial which was conducted in the Yellow River Delta in order to investigate the effects of the application of superphosphate fertilizer in conjunction with rhizobia inoculation on the growth and forage quality of M. sativa. Results indicated that the application of superphosphate fertilizer increased seedling emergence and the percentage of plant set significantly (P<0.05). The application of superphosphate fertilizer also significantly improved the leaf/stem ratio, leaf area index and chlorophyll content compared with the control (P<0.5), with the dry matter yield increasing from between 12.9% to 85.5%. Significant differences were shown to occur in the number and weight of root nodules between plots with and without rhizobia inoculation. rhizobia inoculation treatments, however, had less of an effect on the dry matter yield. The content of water-soluble carbohydrate and crude protein was increased significantly (P<0.05) in all treatments compared witht he control. Although in treatments where both superphospohate fertilizer and rhizobia inoculation were used the content of neutral detergent fiber decreased. In vitro dry matter digestibility of phosphorus treatments were 0.73%-8.49% higher than the control. results suggested that M. sativa groun in the Yellow River Delta should ideally have 750 kg/hm~(2) superphosphate fertilizer applied in conjunction with rhizobia inoculation in order for the highest yield to occur.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 4
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