Effect of liquid cattle manure application on the botanical composition forage dry yield and soil chemical characteristics in mixed pastures

Many farmers apply liquid cattle manure on grassland, often in excess of crop N requirement, resulting in groundwater contamination. Our experiment was carried out to determine the effect of liquid cattle manure application on the botanical composition, forage dry yield and soil chemical characteristics in mixed pastures at the forage experimental field, National Livestock Research Institute, RDA, Korea. Five treatments consisting of no fertilizer, chemical fertilizer (210kg N/ha), liquid cattle manure (40, 60 and 80ton N/ ha) were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. No fertilizer treatment consistently had lower botanical composition rate of grass than the liquid cattle manure and the chemical fertilizer ones. The botanical composition rate of grasses and legumes differ when liquid cattle manure was applied and cut frequent(1, 2, 3 cut time) were compared, but time of 4 cut were no differences among all treatment. The dry matter yields of the mixed pasture were ranged between 9,765 and 9,860MT in liquid cattle manure, 10,110MT in chemical fertilizer, and 5,497MT without fertilizer. The content of available P2O5 in soil decreased with increasing application of liquid cattle manure. The results of this study indicate that liquid cattle manure can be effectively used to produce yields comparable to those obtained with chemical fertilizer.