Effects of fertilizing on the forage production and quality of alpine grassland

Soil fertility declined and weeds invasion was the primary reason which led to grassland production and forage quality decreased in alpine. In order to study the effects of fertilizing in different seasons with different levels on the grassland production and forage quality, a fertilizing experiment with completely randomized blocks design was conducted on the alpine grassland with Elymus sibiricus as dominant species. The results showed that fertilizing in Spring and Spring+Autumn contributed to increase dry matter production of grassland community and Poaceae, and further restrained weeds growth, especially, fertilizing with 225 kgha-1 in Spring had most significant effect(P0.05). However, fertilizing in Autumn had no significant effects. Meanwhile, fertilizing in Spring+Autumn and Autumn could maintain higher forage quality on the alpine grassland. Hence, in order to maintain higher production and forage quality, fertilizing with 75 kgha-1 in Spring+Autumn was optimal.