NITRATE ACCUMULATION IN INTERMEDIATE WHEATGRASS

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Abstract
The effects of six rates of N fertilizer and five frequencies of clipping on the nitrate content of forage from intermediate wheatgrass, Agropyron intermedium (Host.) Beauv., were studied throughout the 1965 growing season.The nitrate content of the forage increased with increasing rates of N fertilizer, and varied with date of harvest. Toxic levels of nitrates (> 2,000 ppm) were found during the period June 5 to July 17 in samples harvested from grass which had been fertilized with 300 and 375 kg/ha of N fertilizer in the spring. Toxic levels were not found in samples from grass fertilized at lower rates. There was an interaction between frequency of clipping and fertilizer rates. At low fertilizer rates the nitrate content of the forage increased as the frequency of clipping was increased, but at the 375-kg/ha rate of fertilizer the opposite was true.It is suggested that fertilizer rates’ in excess of 225 kg/ha N (200 lb/ac N) may result in toxic levels of nitrate in intermediate wheatgrass.

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