Effect of fertilization on the yield and forage quality of annual ryegrass

A field trial was carried out in Hubei province, central area of China to determine the effect of fertilization on the yield and forage quality of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) by comparing crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE), acid crude fiber (CF), crude ash (CA) and gross energy (GE). The results of this study showed that fertilizer recommendation 1 (N450P45K90) and fertilizer recommendation 2 (N540P180K360) significantly improved the fresh forage yield of ryegrass, which were 2.6 times and 3.1 times higher than that of CK, respectively. The amount of dry matter accumulation per day firstly increased, and then decreased with the growth of ryegrass, and achieved the maximum with 223.9 kg/（hm2d） at the 130 d after sowing. The yield of fertilizer recommendation 2 increased by 12.0% compared to that of fertilizer recommendation 1. Fertilization increased the content of P, Ca, CP and EE in ryegrass, and decreased the content of NFE. Compared to fertilizer recommendation 1, fertilizer recommendation 2 improved the content of CP, EE and CA, while decreased the content of CF and NFE of three times clipped ryegrass. The fertilization significantly increased yield of CP, EE, CA, CF, NFE and GE, indicating that fertilizer recommendation 2 did better than fertilizer recommendation 1.