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Agronomy Journal 94:405-412 (2002)
© 2002 American Society of Agronomy

PRODUCTION PAPER

Orchardgrass and Tall Fescue Utilization of Nitrogen from Dairy Manure and Commercial Fertilizer

Debbie J. R. Cherney*,a,b, Jerome H. Cherneya,b and Elena A. Mikhailovab

a Dep. of Anim. Sci., 327 Morrison Hall, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853-4801
b Dep. of Crop and Soil Sci., Bradfield Hall, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853-4801

* Corresponding author (djc6{at}cornell.edu)

Received for publication January 26, 2001.

   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
Our objective was to compare multiyear N utilization by orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L. ‘Okay’) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinaceae Schreb. ‘Stargrazer’) from dairy manure or commercial fertilizer N. The study was conducted from 1994 through 2000 at the Cornell University Baker Farm, Willsboro, NY, on a poorly drained Kingsbury silty clay (very fine, illitic, mesic Aeric Epiaqualfs). The design was a split plot in a randomized complete block with two annual manure rates (33.6 and 67.2 Mg ha-1) and a recommended rate of inorganic fertilizer N as main-plot treatments and grass species as subplot treatments, replicated six times. Dry matter (DM) yield of grass receiving the higher manure treatment was similar to that of N-fertilized grass after 2 yr of manure applications, and residual effects of manure were large at least 3 yr following manure application. Orchardgrass had higher tissue N concentrations but lower total seasonal DM yields than tall fescue. Orchardgrass produced greater spring harvest yields but lower regrowth yields than tall fescue under two- or three-harvest management regimes (1995–2000). No differences in N removal were observed between grass species under a three-harvest management regime. Relative N recovery (including N supplied from the soil) was 59 to 86% from inorganic N fertilizer and 28 to 70% from manure (1995–1997). Manure at commonly used rates resulted in grass yield and N uptake comparable to commercial N fertilization at a recommended rate.

Abbreviations: DM, dry matter • OM, organic matter


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
MANURE FROM DAIRY CATTLE (Bos Taurus) and other livestock can be an important source of N and other nutrients in livestock-intensive regions, including the northeastern USA where manure provides 30% of N needs for crops (Bandel and Fox, 1984). Manure N crediting refers to the ability to assign appropriate N credit from manure to total crop N requirement. Important components of manure N crediting include manure testing, soil N testing, and spreader calibration (Schmitt et al., 1999a). A survey of university faculty concluded that only 34% of land-applied dairy manure receives proper crediting (Schmitt et al., 1999a). While proper manure management is adversely affected by land, labor, equipment, and time limitations on dairy farms, manure management is critical to obtain optimum yield and quality of perennial forage crops (Russelle, 1999).

Concentrations of crop-available N in manure are inherently low and may be further reduced because of slow release of organically bound N and volatilization of NH3 from surface-applied manure (Beauchamp, 1983; Klausner and Guest, 1981). Manure applied on a regular basis, however, can be used to build up both soil organic matter (OM) and the N pool and provide a continuous source of nutrients for the crop. It can serve as an alternative in dry years when application of fertilizer N may not be economical. Nitrogen from both fertilizer and manure is susceptible to leaching and runoff as NO3; therefore, efficient management of manure and fertilizer N on cropland is important for improving the economics of crop production and minimizing adverse impacts on water quality (Jokela, 1992).

Several studies in the USA have focused on N recovery from manure by corn (Zea mays L.). These studies showed that corn has a low N recovery: 10 to 40% when 100 to 500 kg N ha-1 yr-1 was applied as manure (Klausner and Guest, 1981; Wiesler and Horst, 1993). Much of the cropland in the northeastern USA is poorly drained, which discourages the use of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). On these sites, grass provides a better option for N uptake from manure. Manure applications on alfalfa can adversely impact herbage production (Daliparthy et al., 1994; Lory, 1993), and manure applications to established stands are not recommended (Schmitt, 1998). Also, grasses have had a greater response to manure applications compared with alfalfa (Min et al., 1999). Researchers have pointed out the following advantages in using perennial grasses for nutrient uptake from manure: Grasses can utilize large quantities of nutrients, especially N; manure can be applied to perennial grasses several times throughout the growing season; grasslands pose less risk from leaching or runoff losses than cultivated fields; and there is less risk of pathogenic contamination of grasses than for edible crops (Bittman et al., 1999).

Apparent N recoveries of 20 to 50% were reported for perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)–dominant grasslands receiving 200 to 450 kg N ha-1 yr-1 as manure (Davies, 1970). Kanneganti and Klausner (1994) demonstrated that intensively managed orchardgrass has the potential to absorb large quantities of manure N. On an annual basis, the orchardgrass crop recovered 430 kg ha-1 yr-1 soil N from plots receiving 150 kg ha-1 total N from liquid manure in combination with 600 kg ha-1 fertilizer N. Cool-season grasses often accumulate the majority of their annual DM production in the spring, and applications of manure in the spring should be most efficient at increasing DM yield. Schmitt et al. (1999b) determined that manure applied in the spring to reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) resulted in superior yields compared with split manure applications made after second and third harvests.

There have been few manure management studies in the USA involving perennial grasses. To optimize manure management practices in the region, more information is needed on the yield response of perennial grasses to manure applications and the subsequent removal of N. Orchardgrass is well adapted to the northeastern USA, with the potential for high yields and relatively high N recovery from applied manure (Kanneganti and Klausner, 1994). Tall fescue has the potential for greater yields than orchardgrass, and tall fescue stands have persisted better than orchardgrass under high manure applications (Min et al., 1999). Our objective was to compare yield and N utilization by orchardgrass and tall fescue from dairy manure or commercial fertilizer N sources.


   MATERIALS AND METHODS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
The experiment was conducted from 1994 through 2000 on a Kingsbury silty clay at the Cornell University Baker Farm, Willsboro, NY (44°21' N, 73°20' W). The surface 0.20 m of this soil has 22% sand, 29% silt, and 49% clay (Mikhailova et al., 1996). The climate in the region is temperate and cool, with mean annual precipitation of 728 mm, mean annual air temperature of 7.2°C, and a 150-d growing season (Table 1).


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  		Table 1. Monthly precipitation data for Cornell University Willsboro Farm, Essex County, NY.

 
A split-plot randomized complete block design was used with six replicates. One commercial fertilizer (NT-1) and two manure rates (NT-2 and NT-3) were main-plot nutrient treatments. Subplot treatments (2.9 by 4.9 m) consisted of two grass species, orchardgrass and tall fescue. This site did not have a history of manure application before 1993. ‘Okay’ orchardgrass and ‘Stargrazer’ tall fescue were sown 17 Aug. 1993. Grass varieties were selected for similar heading dates to allow harvest and manure application on the same dates for both grass species.

Semisolid dairy manure (Table 2) was split-applied each year (1994–1997) at spring green-up and after first harvest. The common range in seasonal dairy manure application is 22.4 to 67.2 Mg ha-1 fresh wt. (Magdoff and van Es, 2000), with the high manure rate in this experiment set at the top of the common range. Manure application on forage crops must not result in any contamination of harvested forage, and the maximum amount of manure that can be applied with minimum risk of contamination primarily depends on the physical form of the manure. Based on previous experience, we estimated that at least 34 Mg ha-1 dry matter (DM) of semisolid manure could be used in a single application with minimal risk of contaminating harvested forage. Manure came from a dairy farm that used sawdust bedding, resulting in a consistent product that could be weighed easily and distributed uniformly by manual techniques.


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  		Table 2. Composition of dairy manure and amounts of nutrients applied in 1994 through 1997.

 
Manure samples were analyzed for DM, N, P, and K content by a commercial testing laboratory (DairyOne DHI Forage Testing Lab., Ithaca, NY). Dry matter was determined by drying at 105°C overnight. Total N was determined using a Kjeldahl procedure, AOAC 984.13 (AOAC, 1990), and NH3–N using AOAC 941.04. Organic N was calculated as the difference between total N and NH3–N. Phosphorus and K were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emmision spectrometry after ashing and extraction with weak acid (Sirois et al., 1994).

Nitrogen fertilizer was applied in lieu of manure in the spring of 1994 because plants were not yet well established. Rainfall amount and distribution during the 1994 growing season were favorable enough to allow four harvests. Three harvests were taken during the 1995 to 1997 growing seasons. Manure applications were terminated after 1997, and N fertilizer was applied to all previous treatments from 1998 to 2000 (Table 3). Residual effects of manure applications under a recommended N fertilization regime were assessed. A two-harvest management was used from 1998 to 2000 as appropriate for nonlactating dairy cow forage (Cherney and Cherney, 2000).


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  		Table 3. Total N, P, and K applications from fertilizer and dairy manure for Nutrient Treatments 1, 2, and 3 during 1994 through 2000{dagger} at Willsboro, NY.

 
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer was applied to plots with no manure (NT-1) from 1994 to 1997, according to Cornell recommendations for intensively managed grass (Anonymous, 1998), at rates of 84 kg N ha-1 at spring green-up and 56 kg N ha-1 before regrowth harvest. Manure plots received fertilizer at 84 kg N ha-1 in 1994 at spring green-up. From 1998 to 2000, all plots received 112 kg N ha-1 at spring green-up and 56 kg N ha-1 after spring harvest. Fertilizer P and K were applied based on soil test results. Table 3 defines nutrient treatments NT-1, NT-2, and NT-3, including quantities of N, P, and K applied each year.

Yields were determined by harvesting a 1- by 6.1-m strip of each plot using a flail mower. Clipping height was 0.1 m. Four harvests were taken in 1994, three harvests each year during 1995 to 1997, and two harvests each during 1998 to 2000. Whole-plant samples were collected, dried at 60°C for 72 h, and ground in a cyclone mill (Udy Corp., Fort Collins, CO) to pass through a 1-mm screen. Concentrations of N in samples collected from 1994 to 1997 were determined by Kjeldahl procedure (AOAC, 1990). Samples collected from 1998 to 2000 were analyzed for N by Dumas dry combustion with thermal conductivity detection using a LECO analyzer (Model FP-528, LECO Corp., St. Joseph, MI). Dumas combustion with thermal conductivity detection has been shown to have precision and accuracy at least as good as Kjeldahl methods, with similar N values (Tate, 1994). Concentrations were expressed on a DM basis.

Eight soil cores were collected and composited from each subplot (0.20-m depth) immediately following fall harvest from 1997 to 2000. Soil samples were air-dried, manually crushed, and passed through a 2-mm sieve. Soil pH (1:1 soil/water suspension) was measured (McLean, 1982). Soil OM was determined by loss on ignition, Method S-1811 of Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory (McClenahan and Ferguson, 1989).

Statistical significance of treatment effects and interactions was determined using PROC MIXED (Littell et al., 1996) in SAS version 7.0 software (SAS Inst., 1998) for a split-plot analysis of variance with repeated measures. Forage yield, tissue N, and N removal were analyzed by three sets of years (1994, 1995–1997, and 1998–2000) due to different manure and fertilizer treatments (Table 2). Soil data were analyzed by plant species and sets of years (1997 and 1999–2000). The models assumed that nutrient treatments, plant species, and harvest (when applicable) were fixed variables while replication was a random variable. Means of nutrient treatments were separated by plant species and harvest within a year by the Tukey–Kramer procedure for multiple comparisons (P <= 0.05).


   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 
Weather Conditions
Rainfall is a primary determinant of grass growth under adequate soil fertility conditions. Above-normal and well-distributed rainfall from April to August 1994 (Table 1) resulted in excellent growing conditions. Rainfall from April to August ranged from 162% of normal in 1998 to 27% of normal in 1999. For the critical months of April to June, rainfall was only 19% of normal in 1999. Rainfall in spring and early summer has a substantial effect on total DM yields because most of the annual DM production for perennial grass occurs during that period.

Yield
Stand persistence of the species in our study was unaffected by nutrient treatments, with essentially pure stands of orchardgrass and tall fescue through the 2000 harvest season. At least 95% of each individual plot was estimated to be composed of the seeded grass species, using visual estimation of plots in the spring of 2000 (data not shown). In Maryland, stand ratings of orchardgrass fertilized with manure at several application rates were not affected by harvest management (Min and Vough, 2000) although thinning of orchardgrass stands fertilized with high levels of N has been reported (Washko et al., 1967). Declines in estimated stand persistence of perennial grasses have been documented in other studies when untreated checks were compared with N fertilizer or manure treatments (Decker et al., 1967; Schmitt et al., 1999b).

1994
Annual yield was not different among nutrient treatments in 1994 (P > 0.05), primarily because all nutrient treatments received the same N fertilizer application in the spring of 1994. Yields of harvests within the season differed (P <= 0.01); most of the forage production occurred in the spring, with low yields in the fall. Mean yield proportions for Harvests 1, 2, 3, and 4 in 1994 were 0.48, 0.15, 0.28, and 0.09, respectively. Tall fescue consistently produced higher yields than orchardgrass at all harvests (Table 4; P <= 0.05), with tall fescue yields as high as 13.8 Mg ha-1 for NT-1. Tall fescue also outyielded orchardgrass in a Maryland study when rainfall was abundant (Min et al., 1999). Nutrient treatment x harvest and species x harvest interactions were significant (P <= 0.05) in 1994. While tall fescue produced 28% more DM in the spring compared with orchardgrass, it produced 51 and 131% more DM at the second and fourth harvests, respectively, compared with orchardgrass. Nutrient Treatment 1 had numerically greater yields than NT-3 for the first two harvests, but NT-3 yields exceeded those of NT-1 for the last two harvests, resulting in a nutrient treatment x harvest interaction (P <= 0.01).


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  		Table 4. Effect of fertilizer and dairy manure on individual harvest and annual forage dry matter (DM) yields of orchardgrass and tall fescue from 1994 to 2000 at Willsboro, NY.

 
1995 to 1997
Species x harvest interaction was significant (P <= 0.01) each year, with orchardgrass averaging 26.7% more yield than tall fescue for the spring harvest while fescue yielded more DM for both regrowth harvests each year (Fig. 1) . Although varieties were selected to have similar heading dates, even a late-maturing orchardgrass variety apparently accumulates DM earlier in the spring than tall fescue. In 1995, May-through-August rainfall was 51% of what occurred on average in 1996 and 1997. This resulted in most of the annual DM in 1995 being produced in the spring. More rainfall and better-distributed rainfall in 1996 and 1997 resulted in a DM distribution of 27.4, 39.9, and 32.7% for Harvests 1, 2, and 3, respectively, of tall fescue (Fig. 1). In a Minnesota study, with near-normal seasonal rainfall and 200 kg N ha-1, only 30% of the annual DM production of reed canarygrass was taken in the first harvest, with 57% in the second harvest and 12% in the third harvest (Vetsch et al., 1999).



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  		Fig. 1. Dry matter (DM) yield of orchardgrass and tall fescue under a three-harvest system from 1995 to 1997. Average of three nutrient treatments and six replicates. Vertical lines above bars equal standard error of the mean.

 
In 1995, annual yields for tall fescue were greater than those of orchardgrass from NT-1 and NT-3 but not from NT-2; this resulted in a species x nutrient treatment interaction (P <= 0.01). Dry matter yields from NT-1 were much higher than from the manure treatments in 1995 (Table 4 means averaged over species) but were not consistently higher than those of NT-3 after the 1995 growing season. In 1996, NT-1 produced greater DM yields than NT-3 at the spring harvest but yielded less DM than NT-3 for regrowth harvests, resulting in a nutrient treatment x harvest interaction (P <= 0.01). In 1997, NT-1 yielded less DM than NT-3 at the spring harvest but yielded greater DM at regrowth harvests, also resulting in a nutrient treatment x harvest interaction (P <= 0.01). Other two-factor interaction effects on seasonal yield were significant in 1995 to 1997 (P <= 0.05) but were caused by differences in magnitude of response not direction of response.

A three-harvest management system under low rainfall in 1995 resulted in yields averaging 37% of 1994 yields. A three-harvest management system typically results in about 15% higher yield than a four-harvest management system in New York when harvest managements are compared under the same environment in the same year (J.H. Cherney, unpublished data, 1997). After 2 yr of manure applications, DM yields from NT-3 in 1996 were statistically the same (P > 0.05) as those from the NT-1, presumably as a result of manure nutrient buildup (Table 4). Nutrient Treatments 1 and 3 also did not differ (P > 0.05) in total DM yield in 1997. The lower manure rate (NT-2) predictably resulted in the lowest DM yields throughout the experiment.

1998 to 2000
From 1998 to 2000, no manure was applied, and all nutrient treatments received 168 kg N ha-1 to assess any residual effects of manure applications beyond recommended N fertilizer application. The previous manure treatments (NT-2 and NT-3) yielded greater DM (P <= 0.01) than NT-1 (Table 4). From 1998 to 2000, NT-2 averaged 29% greater DM yield than NT-1 while NT-3 averaged 44% greater yield that NT-1. From 1998 to 2000, orchardgrass averaged 51% greater DM yield in manure treatments than in NT-1 while tall fescue averaged 24% greater DM yield with manure treatments. Residual effects on yield from manure treatments were likely a combination of additional N release due to manure along with other beneficial effects. In Vermont, manure applications to continuous corn for 11 yr resulted in beneficial biological, physical, and chemical changes to the soil (Magdoff and Amadon, 1980). Residual yield differences may have been the result of residual positive effects from manure treatments combined with residual negative effects from relatively high application rates of commercial N fertilizer on NT-1. In a separate study, after 3 yr of three rates of commercial N fertilizer application to tall fescue, all plots were fertilized at the same N rate in the fourth production year, and check plots produced 35% higher yields than plots fertilized with 224 kg ha-1 N fertilizer for the three previous years (J.H. Cherney, unpublished, 1999).

As occurred from 1995 to 1997, a species x harvest interaction (P <= 0.01) was the result of greater orchardgrass yields for spring harvest with lower yields for the regrowth harvest compared with tall fescue for 1998 to 2000 (Fig. 2) . A less intensive two-harvest management with a delayed spring harvest starting in 1998 allowed tall fescue more opportunity to catch up to the early season DM production of orchardgrass. While spring harvest orchardgrass yields averaged 26.7% greater than those of tall fescue under a three-harvest regime, orchardgrass averaged only 8.9% greater yields than fescue under a two-harvest regime from 1998 to 2000.



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  		Fig. 2. Dry matter (DM) yield of orchardgrass and tall fescue under a two-harvest system from 1998 to 2000. Average of three nutrient treatments and six replicates. Vertical lines above bars equal standard error of the mean.

 
Inorganic N fertilizer at 70 and 140 kg N ha-1 yr-1 had no residual effects on DM yields in Years 4 and 5 when Singh (1999) applied N fertilizer or manure to golden timothy [Setaria sphacelata (Schum.) Staph & C.E. Hubb. ex M.B. Moss] for 3 yr in the subtropics. In the fourth year, both 40 and 60 t ha-1 yr-1 manure had positive residual effects on DM yields while only 60 t ha-1 yr-1 manure had positive residual effects on DM yields in the fifth year (Singh, 1999). The rapid turnover of OM and leaching of inorganic N fertilizer in the high-rainfall, warm subtropics compared with temperate zones would be expected to minimize residual effects of manure applications.

Nitrogen
Forage Nitrogen
Concentrations of N in forage from manure treatments were more variable than those from N fertilizer (data not shown). Species x harvest and nutrient treatment x harvest interactions in 1994 (P <= 0.05) were due to differences in magnitude, not direction of response, but also were confounded by the fact that all nutrient treatments received the same N fertilizer application at spring green-up in 1994. Fall harvest N concentrations in this study were not consistently lower than N concentrations in spring and summer harvests, averaging 18.5 g kg-1 for Harvest 1, 16.4 for Harvest 2, and 17.7 for Harvest 3 during 1995 to 1997. This is consistent with studies conducted with reed canarygrass grown under optimum N fertilization (Vetsch et al., 1999). From 1995 to 1997, there were species x harvest interaction effects (P <= 0.01) on forage N concentration that followed the same pattern, with similar species N concentrations in the spring harvest and much greater N concentrations in orchardgrass compared with fescue at regrowth harvests. Orchardgrass averaged 19.9, 18.5, and 20.4 g N kg-1 DM in Harvests 1 to 3, respectively, while fescue averaged 18.5, 14.3, and 15.1 g N kg-1 DM in Harvests 1 to 3 respectively, from 1995 to 1997. Nutrient treatment x harvest interaction effects (P <= 0.05) on N concentration from 1995 to 1997 generally were the result of greater N concentrations due to NT-1 compared with manure treatments at spring harvest. In 1996 and 1997, N concentrations in NT-3 were similar to those in NT-1 at regrowth harvests (data not shown).

Species x harvest interactions (P <= 0.05) from 1998 to 2000 were due to differences in magnitude of response. Across all nutrient treatments and species, N concentration was higher in fall regrowth than in spring growth under a two-harvest system, averaging 16.4 and 22.5 g kg-1 for Harvest 1 and 2, respectively. Orchardgrass was consistently greater in N concentration, averaging 16.9 and 25.4 g N kg-1 DM at spring harvest and at the regrowth harvest, respectively, compared with 15.9 and 19.7 g N kg-1 DM at spring harvest and at regrowth, respectively, of fescue from 1998 to 2000. In 1998, a nutrient treatment x harvest interaction (P <= 0.01) was the result of similar N concentrations among nutrient treatments at spring harvest but greater N concentration due to NT-3 in regrowth compared with the other nutrient treatments. In 2000, a nutrient treatment x harvest interaction (P < 0.01) was due to greater N concentration in NT-1 compared with the other treatments at spring harvest, with similar N concentrations among nutrient treatments in regrowth.

Nitrogen Removal
In 1994, tall fescue removed 241 kg N ha-1, compared with 205 kg N ha-1 in orchardgrass (P < 0.01; Table 4), due to the much greater DM yield of fescue. Nutrient Treatment 1 removed 251 kg N ha-1, which was greater than 207 and 211 kg N ha-1 from NT-2 and NT-3, respectively. From 1995 to 1997, N removal by the two species was similar (P > 0.05). A nutrient treatment x year interaction effect (P <= 0.01) on N removal from 1995 to 1997 resulted from much greater N removal from NT-1 than from other nutrient treatments in 1995 but no difference in N removal between NT-1 and NT-3 in 1996 or 1997. A nutrient treatment x year interaction from 1998 to 2000 was due to differences in magnitude. All nutrient treatments were different (P <= 0.05) from 1998 to 2000, removing 124, 153, and 178 kg N ha-1 from NT-1, NT-2, and NT-3, respectively (Table 4). A species x year interaction (P < 0.05) from 1998 to 2000 resulted from fescue removing more N than orchardgrass in 1998 and removing less than orchardgrass in 1999 and 2000.

Nitrogen Recovery
Relative N recovery was estimated for each year during the 1995 to 1997 period by calculating N removal each year as a proportion of total N applied during that year (Table 5). These relative recoveries, however, do not subtract N supplied from soil when no manure or fertilizer N was applied. Therefore, these calculations are overestimates of actual recovery of applied N. Relative N recovery tended to be lower in the manure treatments than in NT-1, especially at the higher manure rate (Table 5). Relative N recovery between manure treatments was different (P <= 0.05) only in orchardgrass in 1995. Relative N recovery was very consistent in 1996 and 1997 with near-normal growing season precipitation. Below-normal precipitation during the 1995 growing season reduced yields, resulting in reduced relative N recovery compared with 1996 and 1997. In the year following a drought, N management of grass stands that received previous manure applications should take into consideration an increased level of N carryover.


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  		Table 5. Relative N recovery in 1995, 1996, and 1997.{dagger}

 
Soil Analysis
There was no difference (P > 0.05) in soil pH between species or nutrient treatments measured in 1997, 1999, and 2000, with an average pH of 6.8 (data not shown). Soil OM did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) among species or nutrient treatments in the fall of 1997 after all manure had been applied, with an average of 37 g kg-1 OM. Manure treatments for tall fescue in 1997 tended to enhance soil OM over that of NT-1. There was a species x nutrient treatment interaction (P <= 0.01) during 1999 and 2000, with greater soil OM in NT-1 compared with manure treatments for orchardgrass but less soil OM in NT-1 compared with manure treatments for fescue. Soil NO3 concentration in the top 0 to 20 cm of soil was at or below initial values by 2000 (data not shown), but it is possible that NO3 may have leached lower in the soil profile (Vetsch et al., 1999).


   CONCLUSIONS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
 
Nitrogen recovery, N requirement and response of the grass, and N use efficiency are considered the important concepts for increasing utilization of N within the perennial grass system (Jarvis, 1998). The optimum N rate on perennial grass from a N use efficiency standpoint almost always exceeds 300 kg N ha-1 (Schmitt et al., 1999b), implying that N application rates in this study were not economically excessive. Relative N recovery in our study was higher from commercial fertilizer N applications than from manure applications. This study agrees with the results found elsewhere that perennial grasses can utilize large quantities of applied N (Vetsch et al., 1999), and our results extend this conclusion to orchardgrass and tall fescue. After 2 yr of manure applications, DM yields of both grass species were the same or higher than yields with recommended commercial N fertilization. From 1995 through 2000, orchardgrass consistently produced greater spring harvest yields but lower regrowth yields than tall fescue. Orchardgrass often had higher concentrations of N in dry tissue but lower annual DM yields than tall fescue. Nitrogen removal by the two species was not different under a three-harvest management. Residual effects of manure applications were apparent for at least 3 yr following application, with greater DM yields and seasonal N removal compared with commercial N–fertilized plots. In a growing season with average rainfall, our results suggest that tall fescue may be better able to utilize manure nutrients throughout the growing season due to its more evenly distributed yield compared with orchardgrass.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
The authors are grateful to Mike Davis, Mike LaDuke, Del Meseck, and Norm Wade for their help with field experiments. Samuel Beer is gratefully acknowledged for his assistance in laboratory analyses. Karen Grace-Martin (Office of Statistical Consulting in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University) consulted on statistical analyses. Financial support for this study was provided by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.


   REFERENCES
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS
 REFERENCES
 




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The SCI Journals Crop Science Vadose Zone Journal
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Soil Science Society of America Journal
Journal of Plant Registrations Journal of
Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome