Some Effects of Calcium and Phosphorus Fertilization on the Yield and Composition of a Tropical Kudzu-Grass Pasture

Abstract

A tropical kudzu-molasses grass-Guinea grass pasture mixture growing on a deep, red, acid soil in the Mountain Region of Puerto Rico yielded an average of 12,938 pounds of dry forage per acre yearly with a crude-protein content averaging 8.5 percent, a calcium content of 0.56, and a phosphorus content of 0.26 percent. Liming increased the yield and protein content of tropical kudzu, but did not appreciably affect its calcium or phosphorus content. Liming did not affect the yield, or the protein, calcium, or phosphorus contents of the grasses. Applications of phosphorus had no apparent effect on the yield, or the protein or calcium contents of the forages. The application of 45 pounds of phosphorus per acre yearly, however, increased the phosphorus content of composite samples of the grasses over all yield periods, but not that of tropical kudzu. The results of this experiment suggest the desirability of making light applications of lime and phosphorus to kudzu-grass pastures growing on red, acid soils in the Mountain Region of Puerto Rico.