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Abstracts
Proceedings
THE EFFECT OF AUTUMN NITROGEN APPLICATION IN TALL FESCUE (FESTUCA ARUNDINACEA SCHREB.) AND RED FESCUE (FESTUCA RUBRA L.) GROWN FOR SEED
R. Gislum and B. Boelt
The Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology
Research Centre Flakkebjerg, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark
Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) were undersown in 1997 in winter wheat. The objective was to investigate (a) whether enhanced autumn N application lead to higher autumn N concentration in the aboveground plant material (b) the consequences for the number of fertile tillers and (c) the possibility of using spectral reflectance to measure N concentration at start of the growing season in spring. The results presented show that in both species application of 60, 90 or 120 kg N ha-1 had no effect on N concentration in the autumn or the number of fertile tillers. Reflectance measurements at the beginning of the growing season showed strong correlation with N concentration in tall fescue (R2=0.956) and red fescue (R2=0 .732). These findings should prove environmentally and economically beneficial towards the development of new strategies for N application in F. arundinacea and F. rubra.
Keywords: tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.); red fescue (Festuca rubra L.); autumn nitrogen; nitrogen concentration; fertile tillers; spectral reflectance.