Effect of nitrogen fertiliser and lime on the floristic composition, soil microbes and dry matter yield of danthonietum calycinae grassland

Abstract

© 2019 Academic Press. Natural grasslands are significant resources for forage production, which is not exploited enough, mostly because of low production, as a result of bad grasslands management. The research has been carried out on the association Danthonietum calycinae to evaluate the effects of different nitrogen application rates (N20, N80 and N140) and lime (1 tha-1) on the floristic composition, soil microbes and dry matter yield. Botanic composition was strongly influenced by the treatments, especially by N applications. Nitrogen fertilisation led to significant increase of grass species in the association (from 57% to 82%), while higher rate of nitrogen caused a significant decrease of plants from other families (especially legumes). Application of low and medium rate of nitrogen positively effect on microbial abundant in soil, but the highest dose (140 kg N) reduced all microbial count, except fungi. Mineral nitrogen fertilisation had a favourable effect on dry matter yield in all treatments. The highest increase in dry matter yield relative to the control was in N140 treatments (6.66 t ha-1). Results indicated that optimal applications of nutrients for this association is application of PK and lime and 80 kg of nitrogen which enable high yield (6.38 t ha-1) in comparison with control (3.16 t ha-1) and preserving soil fertility and the environment at the same time.