Influence of Organic and Inorganic Top Dressing Fertilization on Production Characteristics of Ruzi Grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis) in Thailand

This experiment was aimed to investigate the production characteristics and nutritive quality of Ruzi grass by varying levels of organic and inorganic fertilizer viz. cow dung (CD) and urea fertilizer (UF), respectively. The treatments were arranged into a factorial design and grouped according to a completely randomized design with three replications. Three doses of CD (0; 5; and 10 t/ha) were applied at sowing and four UF doses were applied as top dressing (0, 25, 50 and 100 kg/ha). The application of CD and UF have a positive effect on the length of leaves (p=0.00 and p=0.02) but their interactions are not significantly different (p=0.12). The effect of CD, UF and their interaction significantly increased the number of leaves (p=0.00), the number of tillers (p=0.00) and dry matter yield (p=0.00). There were no significant effect of CD and interaction on the leaf/stem ratio (p=0.17 and p=0.23, respectively) but UF slightly increased the ratio (p=0.00), CP% (p£0.00), NDF% (p£0.00) and ADF% (p£0.00). The best combination of fertilizer could be noted at 50 kg/ha UF and 10 t/ha CD to obtain better results. It might recommend that better fertilizer management can improve productivity as well as the nutritional quality of Ruzi grass.