Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on yield contributing character, biomass yield and nutritive value of cowpea forage

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of nitrogen application on the yield contributing characteristics, biomass yield and nutritive values of cowpea forage. Five nitrogen levels viz: 0 (T0), 15 (T1), 20 (T2), 25 (T3) and 30 (T0) kg N/ha were applied in 20 plots in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The result showed that the application of nitrogen fertilizer had significant (P<0.01) effect on plant height and highest plant height (96.25 cm) was observed at 25 kgN/ha. However, application of nitrogen fertilizer from urea did not show any significant effect on branching of plant. The application of nitrogen fertilizer significantly (P<0.01) increased the green, dry and organic matter, and crude protein yield of cowpea forage. No significant difference (P>0.01) among the groups for chemical composition of cowpea forage was observed due to increasing rate of N fertilizer. Similarly, N fertilization had no affect on OM digestibility and ME content of cowpea forage. From the results of the present study, it may be concluded that the application of N at the rate of 25 Kg N/ha could be used for cowpea forage production. Key words: Cowpea; Nitrogen fertilizer; Yield; Chemical composition; Nutritive value DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjas.v39i1-2.9680 Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2010, 39(1&2): 83-88