MULTINUTRIENT FERTILIZATION AND PLACEMENT TO IMPROVE YIELD AND NUTRIENT CONCENTRATION OF TALL FESCUE

Although tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is one of the major cool-season grasses used for animal feed in the USA, it often is unfe rtilized or is top-dressed with N alone. Additional fertilizer nutrien ts applied with N may improve yield and quality. Subsurface placement of N has been shown to improve cool-season grass production, but data are limited regarding effects of placement of different fertilizer com binations on elemental composition and yield of tall fescue. Thus, a f ield study was conducted from 1984 to 1986 to determine the effects of multinutrient fertilization (N-only, NP, NPK, NPKSBZn, and PKSBZn wit hout N) and placement method [broadcast, dribble (surface banding), an d knifing (subsurface banding)] on nutrient concentrations and yield o f tall fescue. Nitrogen was the primary nutrient limiting fescue growt h. Adding N doubled yields of samples that estimated early-grazing pot ential and tripled yields of hay. Supplementing N fertilization with a dditional nutrients increased tissue concentrations of the added nutri ent, but increases in yield were small and often not significant. Broa dcasting fertilizers resulted in greater yields of early-grazing sampl es and higher P and K concentrations than knifing; however, by hay har vest, knifing resulted in about 10% greater yields and 20% greater N c oncentrations. Dribble applications generally resulted in responses in termediate between those of broadcast and knifing.