Effects of Different Nitrogen and Phosphorus Doses on The Silage Yield and Feed Value of Corn (Zea mays L.)

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different nitrogen and phosphorus doses on the silage yield and quality of TTM-815 hybrid corn cultivar in ecological conditions of Van in years of 2004 and 2005. In this experiment which is conducted with Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications, five different nitrogen doses (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1 N) and four different phosphorus doses (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1 P2O5) were applied. In the investigation, the effects of the doses of nitrogen and phosphorus on the plant height, green herbage yield, hay yield, plant ear ratio, crude protein ratio and crude protein yield were found to be significant. In the first year of the treatment, the highest green herbage yield was obtained as 65524 kg ha-1 from the 200 kg ha-1 N and 80 kg ha-1 P2O5 application doses, the highest hay yield was obtained as 15471 kg ha-1 from the 150 kg ha-1 N and 120 kg ha-1 P205 application doses and the highest crude protein yield was obtained as 1023 kg ha-1 the from 200 kg ha-1 N and 120 kg ha-1 P2O5 application doses. In the second year of the treatment, the highest green herbage yield (67671kg ha-1), hay yield (10390 kg ha-1) and crude protein yield (844 kg ha-1) were obtained from the application doses of 200 kg ha-1 N and 80 kg ha-1 P2O5, 200 kg ha-1 N and 80 kg ha-1 P2O5, and 200 kg ha-1 N and 120 kg ha-1 P2O5, respectively. In light of these findings obtained from the experiment, in the region, the application of 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen and 80 kg ha-1 phosphorus fertilizer dose is said to be necessary for obtaining high yields in production of corn for silage. In addition, in this region, there is need for future studies with higher doses of nitrogen.