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The Rengen Grassland Experiment: relationship between soil and biomass chemical properties, amount of elements applied, and their uptake

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Abstract

The Rengen Grassland Experiment (RGE) was established in the Eifel Mountains (Germany) on a low productive Nardetum in 1941. Since then, the following fertilizer treatments have been applied with a late two-cut system: unfertilized control, Ca, CaN, CaNP, CaNPKCl and CaNPK2SO4. We aimed to understand how concentrations of macro (N, P, K, Ca and Mg), micro (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) and trace (As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb) elements in the plant biomass were affected by long-term fertilizer application, soil chemical properties and biomass production. In 2008, biomass samples from the first cut (early July) and the second cut (mid-October) were collected and analyzed. The simultaneous application of N, P and K decreased nitrogen concentration in the aboveground biomass, but substantially increased biomass production. Late cutting management decreased forage quality in highly productive more than in low productive plant communities. The concentrations of P and K in the plant biomass were positively related to P and K application and, therefore, to plant available P and K concentrations in the soil. The concentrations of some micro (Fe, Mn and Zn) and trace (As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb) elements in the plant biomass were negatively correlated with the amount of elements supplied by fertilizers and biomass production, probably because of the dilution effect. Long-term fertilizer application resulted in the accumulation of macro (P, Ca and Mg), micro (Fe and Mn) and trace (As and Cr) elements in the soil, but in many cases this accumulation was not connected with an increase in the concentrations of these elements in the plant biomass. Nutritional status, as indicated by the biomass N:P ratio, was consistent with N or P limitation as indicated by the nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition indices. Furthermore, additional K (co-)limitation was indicated by the N:K and K:P ratios in the biomass from the NP treatment. The results from the RGE indicate that there is no simple positive relationship between the applied elements and their concentrations in the plant biomass.

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Abbreviations

DM:

Dry matter yield of aboveground biomass

NNI and PNI:

Nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition indices

RGE:

The Rengen Grassland Experiment

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Acknowledgments

Two anonymous reviewers and editors are gratefully acknowledged for their useful comments. The completion of this paper was funded by the Czech projects GAČR 521/08/1131, GAČR 104/07/0977 and MZE 0002700604.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ 165 21, Prague 6-Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Michal Hejcman

  2. Crop Research Institute, Drnovká 507, CZ 161 06, Prague 6-Ruzyně, Czech Republic

    Michal Hejcman

  3. Department of Agro-environmental Chemistry and Plant Nutrition, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ 165 21, Prague 6-Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Jiřina Szaková & Pavel Tlustoš

  4. Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Jürgen Schellberg

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  1. Michal Hejcman
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  2. Jiřina Szaková
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  4. Pavel Tlustoš
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Correspondence to Jürgen Schellberg.

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Hejcman, M., Szaková, J., Schellberg, J. et al. The Rengen Grassland Experiment: relationship between soil and biomass chemical properties, amount of elements applied, and their uptake. Plant Soil 333, 163–179 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0332-3

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