Publication Date

1985

Location

Kyoto Japan

Description

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the root system and forage production in intra- and inter-specific stands of four forage crops; orchard grass, smooth bromegrass, ladino clover, and alfalfa. Crop competitions were noticed from early growth stage and affected to crop growth and forage production significantly. Orchardgrass was the most aggressive species and ladino clover the least. But mixture of orchardgrass-ladino clover had the highest forage production and the highest root density at the end of first-year-growth. In the evaluation of general competition ability (GCA), orchardgrass with the highest GCA was more dominant in root competition than in shoot. Smooth bromegrass had the lowest GCA in both of root and shoot. The mixture of orchardgrass-ladino clover was evaluated as a productive association with high relative yield total (RYT) and positive compensation index (CI), while the mixture of ladino clover-alfalfa had low RYT and negative CI. Forage yield was highly correlated with root dry matter and also root density. We concluded that root competition must be considered as a major factor in selecting forage species for productive association.

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Root Competition and Productivity in Mono-and Binary Association of Four Forage Species

Kyoto Japan

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the root system and forage production in intra- and inter-specific stands of four forage crops; orchard grass, smooth bromegrass, ladino clover, and alfalfa. Crop competitions were noticed from early growth stage and affected to crop growth and forage production significantly. Orchardgrass was the most aggressive species and ladino clover the least. But mixture of orchardgrass-ladino clover had the highest forage production and the highest root density at the end of first-year-growth. In the evaluation of general competition ability (GCA), orchardgrass with the highest GCA was more dominant in root competition than in shoot. Smooth bromegrass had the lowest GCA in both of root and shoot. The mixture of orchardgrass-ladino clover was evaluated as a productive association with high relative yield total (RYT) and positive compensation index (CI), while the mixture of ladino clover-alfalfa had low RYT and negative CI. Forage yield was highly correlated with root dry matter and also root density. We concluded that root competition must be considered as a major factor in selecting forage species for productive association.