Showing 2 results for Forage Quality
M. Gholamhoseini, M. Aghaalikhani, M.j. Malakouti,
Volume 12, Issue 45 (10-2008)
Abstract
In order to study the effect of various amounts of nitrogen (N) and Iranian natural zeolite on the quantitative and qualitative forage yield of winter canola (Brassica napus L.) in light soil, a field experiment was conducted on research farm of Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, during 2006-2007. Treatments were arranged in the form of RCBD with 3 replications. The experimental treatments were based on factorial various levels of zeolite (0, 3, 6 and 9 t.ha-1) and nitrogen (90, 180 and 270 kg ha-1) in urea form. Seeds of canola (Brassica napus L. cv. Okapi) were sown on October 2, and fresh forage was harvested at the time of silique formation (170 DAP). Results showed that the effect of N and zeolite on forage quantitative attributes including biomass, leaf and stem dry weight and leaf area index were statistically significant. In addition, forage qualitative traits including crude protein percentage and calcium percentage in plant mass were significantly affected by N and zeolite. Increasing application of N fertilizer caused increase in N leaching, and with increasing zeolite application, N leaching reduced. The interaction of two factors for all parameters was not significant. The most increasing effects on forage yield and quality were gained using 270 kg N ha-1 in combination with 9 t. Zeolite ha-1. More detailed studies are strongly recommended to investigate the effects of integrated application of chemical fertilizer and natural zeolite.
M.m Majidi, A Arzani,
Volume 13, Issue 47 (4-2009)
Abstract
Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is a perennial legume widely adapted to environmental conditions and has been successfully used as a pasture and hay forage in Iran. This experiment was carried out to investigate yield potential and genetic variation of morphological, agronomic and qualitative traits using 10 Iranian sainfoin populations. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with four replications ON Research Farm, Isfahan University of Technology. Results indicated that there are significance differences between populations for most of the traits. The estimates of heritabilities for forage yield, number of stem per plant, number of node and qualitative traits were over 50 percent. The high phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variability for economic traits showed that a broad genetic diversity in this germplasem can be exploited in breeding programs. Significant differences were found among cuts and cut × population interaction for all characters. The third harvest produced 41.6 percent of total hay yield. Evaluation of traits related to forage quality revealed that the highest proportion of leaf to stem belong to Sarab and Oromieh populations (6.28 and 6.82, respectively). Crude protein percentage was significantly different among cultivars and Golpayegan population had the highest value for Crude protein percentage. Feridan, Khonsar and Golpayegan populations produced the highest dry matter yield in the first, second and third cut, respectively. These populations were found as the high potential accessions, which can be used as a source for agronomic and plant breeding research in the region.
