Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
In most temperate areas, sustainable management of grassland ecosystems has to deal with evaluation and management of N, P and K resources. For this purpose, appropriate diagnostic systems are needed in order to manage fertilisation accordingly. The nutrient index method based on nutrient concentrations in plant tissues relative to the degree of growth has been developed; it relies on critical curves which serve for diagnostic: for N, the critical curve gives the optimum N concentration for different levels of biomass accumulation in swards, for P and K optimum concentrations are a linear function of sward N concentration (Duru & Thélier-Huché, 1997). However limitations in the use of P nutrient index (PNI) were reported when the herbage contained a large proportion of white clover (Jouany et al., 2004). Our objectives were to verify whether similar behaviour were observed with other legumes and for K and N nutrition indices (KNI, NNI) as well.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Diagnosing Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium Status of Natural Grassland in the Presence of Legumes
In most temperate areas, sustainable management of grassland ecosystems has to deal with evaluation and management of N, P and K resources. For this purpose, appropriate diagnostic systems are needed in order to manage fertilisation accordingly. The nutrient index method based on nutrient concentrations in plant tissues relative to the degree of growth has been developed; it relies on critical curves which serve for diagnostic: for N, the critical curve gives the optimum N concentration for different levels of biomass accumulation in swards, for P and K optimum concentrations are a linear function of sward N concentration (Duru & Thélier-Huché, 1997). However limitations in the use of P nutrient index (PNI) were reported when the herbage contained a large proportion of white clover (Jouany et al., 2004). Our objectives were to verify whether similar behaviour were observed with other legumes and for K and N nutrition indices (KNI, NNI) as well.
