Effect of cow slurry N on herbage productivity, efficiency of N utilization and on white clover content in a natural sward in the Basque Country, Spain

The effect of cow slurry N on productivity and white clover content was compared with that of mineral fertilization in a natural grassland sward. Fertilizer was applied at two different N rates as split applications of ammonium nitrate, or as cow slurry (145 or 290 kg N ha(-1) in the first year and 120 or 240 kg N ha(-1) in the second year). In the first year, fertilizer N produced higher dry matter (DM) yields than the slurry treatments. Nitrogen efficiency and clover content reduction were higher for the mineral treatments, the efficiency being lower for the higher rate of N application. In the second year, N supplied by the slurry gave the same productivity, N efficiency and white clover content reduction as that from the mineral N fertilization; higher efficiency in the second year being due to favourable weather conditions and low white clover contents. The high N efficiencies of the slurry compared with the fertilizer N treatments were attributed to the dilution of the slurry and to split applications over the year. Yield differences between treatments were due mainly to the grass component of the sward. Competition between grasses and other species, and white clover for mineral N resulted in a reduction in the white clover content in those treatments in which more N was supplied, whether it came from the mineralization of slurry or from the fertilizer N applied.