Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization on native grasslands in riparian areas of South Patagonia Sturzenbaum, M. V.1, 2, Rivera, E.H.

1, 2, Utrilla, V.R.2, Mora, J.C.1, 2, Milicevic, F.1, 2, Watson, B.R.1, 2. 1Agencia de Extensin Rural Ro Gallegos. 1,2INTA EEA Santa Cruz. msturzenbaum@correo.inta.gov.ar Key Words: meadow, primary production, protein, digestibility, nutrients
Introduction In extensive productive systems of South Santa Cruz, meadows in riparian areas show higher productivity and quality of native pasture in relation to neighbor arid steppes. The difference is mainly associated to the presence of superficial or sub-superficial water. However, the yield is also conditioned by the soils fertility. In meadows of Santa Cruz, San Martino (2003) observed marked effects of fertilization. The objective of this study was evaluate accumulated aerial biomass (AAB) and quality of native pasture in relation to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization. Materials & Methods The area of study was a semi-humid meadow in River Coyle valley. The soil was Sandy Loam, pH neutral (7.0), without salinity, 8.86 % of organic matter, total nitrogen = 0.435 %, N-NO3 = 2.3 ppm, N-NH4 = 26 ppm and available phosphorus = 43 ppm (Truog). In exclosed plots the following treatments were put in place: 1) N: 85 kg/ha of Nitrogen = 250 kg/ha of nitrate of ammonia; 2) NP: 85 kg/ha of Nitrogen = 250 kg/ha of nitrate of ammonia + 95.5 kg/ha of Phosphorus = 217 kg/ha of calcium triple super phosphate and 3) C: Control. The experimental design was in aleatorized complete blocks with three replications. The treatments were evaluated through monthly clipping. Forage was analyzed for AAB, crude protein content (CP) and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD). AAB and CP were analyzed mainly through a repeated measures model (GLM, SAS) and means were adjusted with Tukey-Kramer test (p<0.05). IVDMD was tested with analysis of variance, and means were compared with Tukey test (p<0.05). Results & Discussion The AAB and CP content were affected by clipping date and date x treatment interaction, respectively. Thus, in December, January and February, the AAB of NP treatment was higher in 85, 107 and 104 %, respectively, than C (Table 1). Moreover, in November and December, the CP content of fertilized treatments exhibited higher percentage than C (Figure 1). However, since January, all treatments CP contents were less 10 % probably on account of the vegetation maturity and water stress. Forage IVDMD did not differ between treatments in any date, and mean decreased from 69.00.7 % (November) until 55.41.2 % (March). Conclusions The NP fertilization doubled the forage accumulation in January and February, and fertilized treatments improved CP content of native pasture in November and December. Reference San Martino, L. 2003. Fertilizacin de mallines en la Patagonia. Buenos Aires. Ediciones INTA, 23-29.

Table 1: Accumulated aerial biomass (Kg DM.ha-1 standard deviation) for each treatment and clipping date. For each date, values followed by different letters indicate differences (p<0.05) between treatments. Dates / Treatments N NP C 06/Nov/07 1148464 a 1110129 a 1245145 a 12/Dec/07 2707819 b 38541004 a 2083646 b 08/Jan/08 37661638 ab 50581736 a 24481065 b 05/Feb/08 36891038 ab 46612280 a 2280976 b 05/Mar/08 4253954 a 41472445 a 2126698 a 07/Apr/08 41451584 a 41562450 a 21221203 a

Figure 1: Crude Protein content (% standard deviation) for each treatment and clipping date. For each date, values followed by different letters indicate differences (p<0.05) between treatments.
20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

a b a c b a a a a b b a a a a

Crude Protein(%)

06/Nov/07 12/Dec/07 N

08/Jan/08 NP

05/Feb/08 05/Mar/08 C

Clipping dates