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First results of the cultivation of prairie grass (Bromus catharticus Vahl) in Hungary
9-18Views:115Yield elements (plant height, grass yield) of prairie grass, the little known grass species in Hungary, was investigated in a three-factor field experiment set up on the Mohács-island. One-grass and grass/legume mixture were established under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions at different nitrogen levels (0-67-133 kg N/ha/year). The effects of these factors on the grass productivity were analysed by a three-factor analysis of variance at 5% significance level in the first year of the experiment. Nitrogen supplementation and the interaction of legumeXirrigation had a significant positive effect on the annual hay yield. The yield of the first two cuts, which accounted for 61% of the annual yield, was not significantly affected by any of the examined factors, while their effect was already clearly visible in the yield of the 3rd and 4th cuts. A similar result was obtained with the model fitted to the average height of the four cuts, but the legumeXirrigation and legumeXnitrogen interactions were already significant in the 2nd cut. Nitrogen had a positive effect on grass height from the 3rd cut. Without irrigation, the 1st cut showed a significantly lower grass height with legume addition. In our experiment, we estimated 65 t/ha annual fresh grass yield on average of the treatments, and 18 t/ha of hay was actually harvested. In the treatment of irrigation with legume addition, 1 kg/ha of excess nitrogen resulted in an excess of 150 kg/ha of fresh grass yield in the case of the higher dose nitrogen treatment, compared to the nitrogen control. The laboratory analysis of the 1st cut-hay samples from selected treatments confirmed favorable protein (16.7-18.2%) and crude fat content, its lower crude fiber content and higher calcium and phosphorus content compared to cocksfoot and smooth brome.
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Horticultural applicability of Festuca taxa I.
3-9Views:155This survey is connected to OTKA-125423, which examines the vegetation of sandy grasslands along the Danube. During this survey, two potentially horticulturally usable Festuca species was analysed: Festuca wagneri and Festca tomanii. The main questions were the following: are they usable in an urban environment? Do the to species differ significantly? Have they any morphotaxonomic feature which can by utilized in horticultural practice? Specimens of the two taxa, which were planted either into normal garden soil or into pots differed greatly. Specimens of F. tomani were usually larger and more uniform. Both taxa had the pot treatment well. Though the average lengths of leaves and inflorescence stems tended to be higher on the soil mixed with perlite, the coverage values were lower on it; thus adding expensive perlite to the soil might not be rewarding for the farmer. The two species differed from each other in several morphological parameters. The diversity of Festuca wagneri showed well in this survey, and this taxons parameters would be also useful in horticultural practice.
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Factors affecting the thousand-grain weight of three grass cultivars
15-21Views:88We analyzed the effects of temperature, precipitation and the age of the mother plants on the change of an important seed quality parameter, the thousand-grain weight (TGW) in the case of three Hungarian cultivars of different grass species (’Tomaj’ red fescue, ’K-50’ tall fescue and ’K-51’ smooth brome). Examining the seed samples of six years from the stocks maintained at the MATE Georgikon Campus (Keszthely), we found that the age of the stocks did not affect the value of TGW. The age of the stocks did not affect the TGW. Only the heat sum lower than average showed negative effect to the TGW in the linear model applied the heat sum and total precipitation calculated between 1st of May to the harvest date, and the age of the stocks as independent factors. Precipitation had a positive but weak effect, the amount of precipitation calculated from 1st of November of the previous year to harvest correlated better with TGW. We also found that proper purification and the TGW-data correction for the same moisture content are necessary in such a comparative study of TGW values of grass seeds.