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Cows' Urine as a Fertilizer for Bluegrass Pastures

Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, Illinois

ABSTRACT

Four small plots of Kentucky bluegrass were treated in April, May, and June of 1939, and again in May and June of 1940, with applications of cows' urine at rates ranging from 1250 pounds to 5000 pounds per acre at each application. A control area was untreated. Samples of the grass were harvested monthly from May to September, inclusive.

Although the urine contained more than 1 per cent nitrogen and in most cases more than 1 per cent potassium, the heavy applications were, as a rule, not harmful to the forage.

The protein content of the grass on the treated plots was higher than that of the grass on the control area, and in most instances, the heavier the application of urine, the higher the protein content.

The protein content of the A samples, representing recent growth, was higher than that of the B samples, which included both older forage and recent growth. Advancing development of the plants and renewed growth induced by rains were important factors affecting the protein content of the grass, the former causing a decline and the latter an increase in protein content.

The effect of the first year's spring treatment with urine on the protein content of the grass was evident during the remainder of the pasture season and also in May of the following year.

The yields of the urine-treated plots were higher than that of the untreated pasture and there was a tendency toward higher yields from the more heavily treated plots.

The palatability of the grass, as evidenced by close grazing by cattle, was higher on the urine-treated plots than on the untreated pasture and the greater the protein content of the grass, the greater the intensity of grazing.