Open Access

ARTICLE

Regrowth, yield and nutrition of Leymus chinensis and Hordeum brevisubulatum in response to defoliation intensity and frequency

Song Y¹, CA. Busso⁵, Y Yu², P Wang³, Wuyunna¹, D Zhou⁴

1 College of Environment and Bioresources, Dalian Minzu University, Dalian, China.
2 China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing, China.
3 School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
4 Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.
5 Departamento de Agronomía – CERZOS (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina=CONICET), Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Andrés 800, 8000 Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
Address correspondence to: D. Zhou. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin Province, China Zip code:130102, e-mail: zhoudaowei@neigae.ac.cn

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2018, 87(all), 242-251. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2018.87.242

Abstract

The effects of different defoliation intensities and frequencies were studied on regrowth and herbage mass of Leymus chinensis and Hordeum brevisubulatum in northeast China for two years. Plants were defoliated to 6, 8 or 10 cm stubble height by removing about 40% of growth down to each designated defoliation height. In the first year, L. chinensis was defoliated 22, 17 or 13 times, and in the second year was defoliated 21, 15 or 15 times to reach 6, 8 or 10 cm stubble height treatments, respectively. H. brevisubulatum was defoliated 26, 21 or 15 times in the first year, and 28, 23 or 21 times in the second year to reach the 6, 8 or 10 cm stubble, respectively. L. chinensis was more productive than H. brevisubulatum, but H. brevisubulatum showed a better forage quality than L. chinensis because H. brevisubulatum showed a higher leaf to stem ratio and crude protein concentration than L. chinensis. Both species produced the highest yield, but the lowest quality when defoliated to 10 cm stubble. There were no significant differences in water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations in below-ground culm and rhizome tissues between defoliation heights, but L. chinensis had a higher WSC concentration than H. brevisubulatum.

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