Effects of Slurry Applied with Soil Conditioners and Mineral Fertilizers on Fiber Fraction Content in <i>Festulolium braunii</i> (K. Richt.) A. Camus

Abstract

This paper deals with the effects of slurry, soil conditioners, and mineral fertilizers on Festulolium braunii fiber content. The field studies with three replications and a completely randomized design lasted two years (2016–2017). The effects of slurry applied on its own or in combination with mineral fertilizers and with two products improving soil properties was tested on the Sulino cultivar of F. braunii, a forage grass species. The results of the studies demonstrated that crude fiber content of F. braunii significantly varied across harvests. The treatment also significantly affected neutral detergent fiber (NDF) fraction content in the biomass. Due to an interaction effect, its amounts in grass treated with the combination of slurry and UGmax, a product improving soil properties, increased by 10% when compared to plants treated with slurry only, and the addition of Humus Active, another product improving soil properties, increased it by 7%, while the addition of mineral fertilizers did so by only 4%. The amounts of acid detergent fiber (ADF) in F. braunii significantly varied across growing seasons. However, none of the research factors significantly affected the amounts of acid detergent lignin (ADL).

Keywords

• fiber
• natural fertilizer
• forage grasses