Effects of Intercropping, Nitrogen Fertilization and Corn Plant Density on Yield, Crude Protein Accumulation and Ensiling Characteristics of Silage Corn Interseeded into Alfalfa Stand
2022
Ruixuan Xu | Haiming Zhao | Yongliang You | Ruixin Wu | Guibo Liu | Zhiqiang Sun | Bademuqiqige | Yingjun Zhang
Interseeding silage corn into an alfalfa stand following its spring harvests to produce mixed silage would feasibly break the restriction of alfalfa production during a hot-rainy summer. In this 2-yr experiment, the alfalfa&ndash:silage corn intercropping system (AC) with nitrogen (N) fertilization rates of 0, 60, 120, and 180 kg N ha&minus:1 and corn plant densities of 30,000, 45,000, and 60,000 plants ha&minus:1 was compared with the monocultured corn (CK) managed using the local farmers&rsquo: practice. Intercropping with alfalfa significantly decreased the dry matter (DM) yield of the corn by 31.5% on average, while increasing the N application rate and corn plant density promoted DM yield and crude protein (CP) accumulation of the intercropped corn, and the intercropping system could achieve the same CP yield as CK&mdash:it did in most cases. Although the DM contents, pH values, and NH3-N concentrations were decreased in the mixed silage, its fermentation quality was not reduced and the CP, water soluble carbohydrates, and lactic acid contents were dramatically increased by 16.3%, 17.8%, and 72.9% compared with those of CK, respectively. For the opposite effects of N fertilization and corn density on silage quality, the treatment combination with a medium corn density (45,000 plants ha&minus:1) fertilized at a medium N rate (120 kg N ha&minus:1) was evaluated as the optimum for more balanced system productivity, silage nutritive values and fermentative characteristics during the coexisting period.
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