Yield and Quality Response of Ryegrass, Egyptian Clover and Their Mixtures to Different Sources of Fertilizers

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted during two successive winter seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 to investigate the potentialities of mixing Egyptian clover with ryegrass under bio, or-ganic and mineral fertilization treatments and their combination to increase forage yield and qua-lity grown under sandy soil conditions. The experiment included the combination of five mixing ratios (Egyptian clover alone, ryegrass alone, 75% Egyptian clover: 25% ryegrass, 50% Egyptian clover: 50% ryegrass and 25% Egyptian clover: 75% ryegrass) and eight fertilizer sources, which include control, organic fertilization, bio fertilization, chemical fertilizer, organic + bio fertilizer, or-ganic + chemical fertilizer, bio + chemical fertilizer and combination of organic and chemical and bio fertilizers. The obtained results indicate the superiority of 75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass mix-ture fertilized by Bio + O + N in fresh and dry forage production. On the other hand, it reported the lowest dry weight of weeds g/m 2 . Chemical analysis of forage plants showed that the mixture of 75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass surpassed that of other treatments yield for crude protein, ether ex-tract and ash. The results also revealed that the highest record of DCP, crude fiber and TDNY was obtained by forage mixture of 75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass fertilized with Bio + O + N. Such higher yield of these characters has secured a balanced ratio which is really needed for ruminants ration. Keywords Rye Grass, Egyptian Clover, Forage Mixing Ratios, Organic, Bio and Chemical Fertilizers A. T. Thalooth et al.