Fate of fertiliser nitrogen in a ryegrass–kikuyu dairy pasture system
Michael Fitzgerald
A * , Deirdre Harvey A , Johannes Friedl B , David Rowlings B , Jason Condon C D and Warwick Dougherty A
A NSW Department of Primary Industries, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Menangle, NSW 2569, Australia.
B Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.
C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2560, Australia.
D School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.
Abstract
Dairy pasture production is reliant on fertiliser to supply nitrogen (N); however, fertiliser N-use efficiency (FNUE) is low and N can be lost to the environment.
The aim of this study was to track the fate of N fertiliser applied in a pasture system of ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum, temperate grass) oversown into kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum, tropical grass).
We used 15N-labelled urea to track the residual plant uptake of a one-off application of 15N over three pasture cuts subsequent to the first cut in the kikuyu growing season from February 2018 to April 2018 (Experiment 1), followed by total soil and plant recoveries of 15N over a 12-month period (Experiment 2). Total N treatment rates were 0, 120, 240 and 480 kg N ha−1 year−1, consisting of application events of 40 kg N ha−1. In Experiment 1, 15N was applied only at the first fertilisation, whereas in Experiment 2, 15N-labelled urea was applied at each fertilisation event.
In Experiment 1, uptake of residual 15N fertiliser in the pasture biomass was <6%. In Experiment 2, FNUE was 29–32% and unaccounted 15N fertiliser was 22–142 kg N ha−1, across the 120, 240 and 480 kg N ha−1 year−1 treatments.
Recovery of 15N residual fertiliser did not increase with N rate and was attributed to the mass increase in soil 15N recovery. FNUE in the pasture did not decrease with N rate. Unaccounted 15N increased with N rate.
Existing and alternative N and pasture management strategies such as clover and multi-species pasture need to be implemented and explored to reduce the amount of unaccounted N in dairy pasture production.
Keywords: dairy systems, efficiency, New South Wales, Nitrogen-15, pasture production, profitability, soil-plant interaction, sustainability.
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