Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T14:16:43.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Experiments on the use of anhydrous ammonia for grass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. K. R. Gasser
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Marie Blakemore
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
R. C. Flint
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.

Summary

A hand injector was used to inject ammonia into soils in pots in which ryegrass was subsequently grown and under grass in the field; the spacing was varied.

Injecting ammonia or applying ammonium nitrate at one point or three points in the middle of a clay-loam and a sandy-loam soil in pots did not affect the growth of grass or its uptake of N. Grass with ammonium nitrate grew slightly better than with ammonia on the sandy loam and slightly worse on the clay loam.

Best yields of dry matter and most uptake of N were obtained from grass swards having ammonia injected in lines 23 and 30 cm apart and the injection points from onequarter to one-half of the distance between rows. Increasing the distance between lines from 30 to 45 cm diminished total yield and uptake because the strip 15·2 to 22·8 cm from the line of injection grew less than grass nearer to the line of injection.

With grass grown in rows 12·1 cm apart, yields were greatest with the lines of injection perpendicular to the rows of grass and least with the ammonia injected along and into the rows. The yield of dry matter of the row with ammonia injected into it was usually less than of the adjacent row and the percentage N in the grass was usually more, so that the weight of N in the grass sometimes increased and sometimes decreased with distance from the line of injection depending on the relative changes in yield of dry matter and of percentage N.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bremner, J. M. (1960). Determination of nitrogen in soil by the Kjeldahl method. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 55, 1133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, J. M. & Jenkinson, D. S. (1960). Determination of organic carbon in soil. I. Oxidation by dichromate of organic matter in soil and plant materials. J. Soil Sci. 11, 394402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burg, P. F. J.Van Brakel, G. D.Van, & Schepers, J. H. (1967). The agricultural value of anhydrous ammonia on grassland: experiments 1963–1965. Netherlands Nitrogen Technical Bulletin no. 2, p. 31. The Hague, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Gasser, J. K. R. (1961). Soil nitrogen. VI. Correlations between laboratory measurements of soil mineral-N and crop yields and responses in pot and field experiments. J. Sci. Fd Agric. 12, 562–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar