Chemical compositions of a permanent grassland of Nardus stricta L. and Festuca rubra L.

under influence of organic fertilizations

L. Melut,1 V. Vintu,1 C. Samuil,1 D.Tarcau1
1

Faculty of Agriculture, Ion Ionescu de la Brad University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine of Iasi, ROMANIA
*corresponding

Introduction
Permanent grassland area of Romania covers over 4.8 million hectares, of which more than a half are located in upland areas and the grassland area, dominated by Nardus stricta L., covers 300,000 hectares at 400 2200 m altitude on acid soils, replacing more valuable grasslands, especially those of Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra (Vintu et al. 2011). For a long-term period no elementary management measures were applied on permanent meadows in Romania, estimating that they could get efficient yields without technological inputs. The fertilization of mountain grasslands with organic fertilizers leads to an improvement in terms biodiversity, productivity and quality (Ansquer et al., 2009, Schellberg et al., 1999). Fertilization with organic and mineral fertilizers is one of the main means by which we can increase the yield of permanent grasslands and have a strong influence on forage quality by modifications in floristic composition, chemical structure, consumption and digestibility with implications on nutritive and energetic values (tbnarov et al. 2012). The first aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mineral and organic fertilization on the nutritional value of forages from a permanent grassland of Nardus stricta L. located in Dorna Depression (north-eastern Romania). The second aim of the study was to establish the best dose of fertilization in order to improve the quality of forages on the permanent grassland.

author: email:doinatarcau@yahoo.com

Materials and Methods

Dry matter (DM) of forage was determined at 105C for 5 h. Crude protein (CB) was determined by the Kjeldahl method using a device Inkjel P and distillation Behrotest WD20, Labor Technik, Germania. Ether extract (EE) was determined by the Soxhlet method. Ash content was measured gravimetrically by igniting samples in a muffle furnace at 500oC. Acid detergent fibre (ADF), Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and sulphuric lignin content (ADL) was analysed using the Fibretest system within acordance to the procedure of Van Soest. Total phosphorus was determined by photometrical method using Shimadzu spectrophotometer UV-Vis 1240. The analyses performed allowed the calculation of parameters for assessing the quality of the feed, such as the total digestible nutrients (TDN), net energy of lactation (NEL) and relative nutritional value (RFV). Calculation of these parameters was performed with the following formulas (A Nutritional Guide, 1990). TDN = 82.38 (0.7515 %ADF) RFV = (DDMDMI)/1.29 DDM = 88.9 (0.779 %ADF) DMI = 120/%NDF NEL: Mcal/lb = (TDN % x 0.01114) 0.054

Results and Discussion

Variant 2010 V1-unfertilized control V2-20 t ha-1 manure every year V3-30 t ha-1 manure every year V4-30 t ha-1 manure every two years V5-50+0+40+0 t ha-1 manure 2011 V1- unfertilized control V2-20 t ha-1 manure every year V3-30 t ha-1 manure every year V4-30 t ha-1 manure every two years V5- 50+0+40+0 t ha-1 manure 2012 1.40 4.97 4.16 3.95 4.29 1.60 5.30 4.50 3.60 3.95 8.83 9.23*** 10.50*** 9.88*** 10.50*** 8.86 9.45*** 10.27*** 9.79*** 9.38*** 7.08 6.69 7.30 6.85 7.71 9.52 7.54 7.71 8.05 9.06 1.86 2.08 2.10 1.66 1.71 1.97 3.12 2.81 1.98 1.39 59.86 57.75*** 57.71*** 54.51*** 53.53*** 58.76 53.75*** 50.35*** 52.34*** 52.44***
1,0
2,0

SU/DM (t ha-1) 1.10 3.62 3.16 2.90 4.25

PB (%) CenB (%)

GB (%)

NDF (%)

ADF (%)

ADL (%)

P (%)

9.79 11.44*** 12.72*** 11.29*** 10.11***

7.46 8.67 9.15 9.16 8.77

1.62 1.77 2.02 2.11 2.04

59.15 58.41** 50.57*** 53.29*** 53.52***

54.10 42.11*** 41.43*** 41.20*** 41.42*** 53.96 43.88*** 43.75*** 46.89*** 44.53*** 52.47 40.65*** 41.25*** 43.74*** 42.44***

10.38 9.80 11.40 9.99 9.51 10.78 9.88** 11.35*** 9.75*** 9.58*** 10.15 9.45** 10.25*** 9.15*** 9.53***

0.17 0.26*** 0.26*** 0.24*** 0.27*** 0.16 0.21** 0.26*** 0.26*** 0.28*** 0.14 0.20** 0.22*** 0.20*** 0.22***

Experimental Procedure
Figure 1. Geographical position of Dorna Depression Romania

V1- unfertilized control V2-20 t ha-1 manure every year V3-30 t ha-1 manure every year V4-30 t ha-1 manure every two years V5- 50+0+40+0 t ha-1 manure * =p< 0.05; **= p< 0.01; ***= p< 0.001.
2,5 2,0
1,5

V5-2010
1,0

V2-2010
1,5

V3-2011 V2-2011
0,5

DM (t/ha) P (%) NDF (%)

0,5

Factor 2: 16,81%

Factor 2: 29,09%

0,5 0,0 -0,5

Factor 2 : 16,81%

1,0

0,0

0,0

V3-2010 V1-2010

V1-2011

CenB (%) PB (%) GB (%)

ADF (%)

-0,5

V4-2011
-1,0 -1,5 -2,0

-1,0

-0,5

-1,5

V4-2010

V5-2011
-1,0

ADL (%)

-2,0

-2,5

-1,0
-2,5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

-0,5

0,0

0,5

1,0

-3,0 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Factor 1 : 68,86%
1,0

Factor 1: 68,86%

Factor 1: 55,29%

GB (%) NDF (%)

Fig.2 Factor loadings for variants of fertilization

ADL (%)
0,5

The research was conducted during 2010 - 2012 on permanent grassland of Nardus stricta L. and Festuca rubra L., located in Dorna Depression, Saru-Dornei village at an altitude of 940 m and slope of 10 degrees.

Table. 1. Variants of organic fertilization on permanent grassland of Nardus stricta L. and Festuca rubra L., Saru Dornei, Romania

Organic fertilization V1 Unfertilized control V2 20 t ha-1 manure applied every year V3 30 t ha-1 manure applied every year V4 30 t ha-1 manure applied every tow years V5 50+0+40+0 t ha-1 manure
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was cofinanced from the European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 20072013, project number POSDRU/I.89/1.5/S62371 ,,Postdoctoral Schole in Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine area.

CONCLUSIONS The use of organic fertilizers improves the quality of forages produced on mountain permanent grassland, as evidenced by the values of chemical components and a set of characteristic parameters of forages. Thus, there was a significant increase in dry matter, crude protein and total phosphorus, and a decrease in content of insoluble fibre and acid detergent fibre and of the lignin, respectively. The results for the relative nutritional value indicate average quality forages produced on the fertilized variants. Information obtained in this study could be useful in understanding the nutritional potential of the forages, representing basic information in ruminant nutrition.

Factor 2 : 29,09%

DM (t/ha) ADF (%)

0,0

PB (%) P (%)
-0,5

CenB (%)

-1,0 -1,0 -0,5 0,0 0,5 1,0

Factor 1 : 55,29%

Fig.3 Factor loadings for variants of fertilization

References
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