Abstract:
An experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm, College of
Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala during 1977-78 to study the effect of phosphorus
levels, lime and cutting intervals on green fodder yield, protein enrichment and
nodulation of Stylosanthes gracilis and nitrogen build up in the soil. The
treatments constituted five levels of phosphorus viz., 0,40, 80, 120 and 160 kg
P205/ha, two levels of lime viz., 0 and 500 kg CaO/ha and two intervals of cutting
viz., 30 days and 45 days. The green fodder yield, protein content and protein
yield were found to increase progressively upto 120 kg P205/ha. The combination
of phosphorus and lime had significant influence in increasing the green fodder
yield and protein content. Cutting interval of 45 days recorded more green
fodder yield and the combination of 120 kg phosphorus per hectare with 30 days
interval of cutting recorded the maximum protein content. Nodule number and
weight were found to increase progressively upto 120kg P205/ha. but lime and
cutting interval had no significant influence. An increase of 7.3% of total nitrogen
content of soil with increase in the levels of phosphorus was observed. Phosphorus
and lime together contributed for the increase in the available nitrogen.
