McAdam, James H.

Radic, Sergio

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress Establishment and Growth of Legumes in Acid Soils in the Falkland Islands Sergio Radic Queen's University, UK James H. McAdam Queen's University, UK Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/2-1/47 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 瞯 ]342　 瞯 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅰ 　Grasslands/Rangelands Resources and Ecology ——— Soil Quality and Plant NutritionEstablishment and growth of legumes in acid soils in the Falkland IslandsS . Radic1 ,3 and J .H . McA dam 1 ,21 Queen摧s University , Bel f ast , UK . 2 A gri‐Food and Biosciences Institute , Bel f ast , UK .3 Magallanes University , Punta A renas , Chile . E‐mail :sergio .radic＠ qub .ac .uk & j im .mcadam＠ af bini .gov .ukKey words :Calcified seaweed , clover , lotus , nitrogen fixation .Introduction The main problems with sheep production in the Falkland Islands ( FI) are mainly a function of the low quality ofnative pasture and are ; ( a) low ewe live weights reduce ovulation rate and subsequent ewe and lamb survival , ( b ) lifetimeperformance of lambs ( low lambing percentage‐６０％ , high percentage mortality‐１０‐２０％ and low lamb birth weights x kg‐) ,( c) significant ewe live weight loss through winter and early spring , ( d) Hogget live weight loss during winter and early springincreases death rates and productivity of those that survive . Forage crops can help improve this situation as they have betterquality and , in some cases , quantity of production than native grasslands . Legumes are a good source of feed as they have highprotein content , better yield in mixtures and fix Nitrogen . Also FI soils have a low pH , low Ca & P , synthetic fertilizer isexpensive and is not compatible with organic production systems . One alternative is to use locally‐found Calcified Seaweed ( CS‐an acceptable organic material to raise the pH , Ca & other minerals) . The overall aim of this work is to investigate the effectof acid soils on legume establishment , grow th and nitrogen fixation in the FI .Materials and methods Two groups of experiments were conducted ,１ . In a controlled environment at Queen摧s University Belfast , a . In an experiment in pots , the effect of different doses ofCalcified Seaweed ( CS ) on grow th of legumes ( T ri f olium repens var . Gwenda , Lotus Corniculatus var . Leo and LotusUliginosus var . Maku) was investigated , b . In soil incubations with different doses of CS and different particle size distribution( ＜ ０ .２５ mm and ＞ ２ .４ mm) at two different temperatures (１１ ℃ × ７５ days and ６０ ℃ × ４ days) and lime as a control .２ . Field experiments in the FI , at Bold Cove , Hope Cottage , Saladero and Shallow Harbour . At each farm grazing exclusioncages were used in established reseeds to measure the yield , chemical composition and nitrogen fixation of the legumes duringthe growing season ( October‐February ) . Data collected was used to measure how much nitrogen is being fixed using１５ Nitrogen‐isotopic techniques . The soil １５ N‐enrichment to measure N２ fixation , have been extensively reviewed ( Ledgard andPeoples , １９８８ ; Witty et al . , １９８８) .Results and discussion T ri f olium repens‐based swards fixed ６０ ; ６３ ; ６５ ; and ６７ kg N / ha , with a range between ３１‐９５ kg N / hadepending on the site during season １ . At the three lowest doses of CS , Al and pHw were unaffected by particle size , howeverat the two higher doses of CS Al was reduced , at the higher dose only pHw increased with increasing particle size in anincubation experiment (６０ ℃ ) . For pH in water the difference between doses of ０ g / kg and ６ .４ g / kg is ０ .４７ points ( ＜ ０ .２５mm) and ０ .１１ points ( ＞ ２ .４ mm) in comparison to a control value of ０ .６７ . From these results , it would be best to mill theCS to improve the pHw and decrease the exchangeable Aluminium ( Al) .Table 1 Statistic di f f erences between treatments to Ca (meq /１００ g) , A l (meq /１００g) exchangeable and p H in water .Doses ofCS g / kg( tonnes/ ha)Control Particle size distributionLime ＜ ０ 垐.２５ mm ＞ ２  .４ mmCa Al pHwater Ca Al pHwater Ca Al pHwater０ (０) １ 厖.０２d ８ g.０１a ４ I.４１d １ +.０２e ８  .０１a ４ 镲.４１c １ 蜒.０２d ８ 吵.０１a ４ 晻.４１b０ 9.８ (０ .６３) １ 厖.４２dc ７ g.３４b ４ I.４８d １ +.５７d ７  .６９ab ４ 镲.４３c １ 蜒.６３c ７ 吵.６１ab ４ 晻.４５ab１ 9.６ (１ .２６) １ 厖.８９c ６ g.６２cB ４ I.６１cB ２ +.１６c ６  .８７bA ４ 镲.５３bAB １ 蜒.９２c ７ 吵.２４bA ４ 晻.４８abA３ 9.２ (２ .５２) ２ 厖.７３bA ５ g.１６dC ４ I.７７bB ３ +.５０bB ５  .９５cB ４ 镲.６２bAB ２ 蜒.６８bA ６ 吵.７３bA ４ 晻.５３aA６ 9.４ (５ .００) ４ 厖.６５aA ２ g.７７eC ５ I.０８aC ６ +.２１aB ３  .９４dB ４ 镲.８８aB ６ 蜒.０４aB ６ 吵.２６bA ４ 晻.５２aAValues with different lower cases in the column are statistically different for doses . Different upper cases in the row are statistically different for particle sizes .Conclusion It can be concluded from the first years摧 data that doses of calcified seaweed and particle sizes significantly affectedthe release of nutrients from incubated soils . Finer CS material had a better reaction with the soil and released nutrients fasterthan coarse CS . Nitrogen fixation rates in the Falkland Islands range from ３１‐９５ kg N / ha .ReferenceLedgard , S .F . and Peoples , M .B . , １９８８ . Measurement of nitrogen fixation in the field . In Wilson , J .R . Advances innitrogen cycling in agricultural ecosystems . CAB International . Wallingford , Oxon . United Kingdom . ３５１‐３６７ .Witty , J .F . , Rennie , R .J . and Atkins , C .A . , １９８８ . １５N addition methods for assessing N２ fixation under field conditions .In : Summerfield , R .J . , World crops : cool season food legumes . Dordrecht , Netherlands . Kluwer Academic Publishers .７１６‐７３０ .

Establishment and Growth of Legumes in Acid Soils in the Falkland Islands

https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2509&amp;context=igc

Establishment and Growth of Legumes in Acid Soils in the Falkland Islands

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Kentucky