This study was conducted at the experimental area of the Field Crops Department of Çukurova University (37°01′N, 35°18′E) in the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons to determine the effects of sole or combined applications of 3 organic materials (poultry litter, cattle manure, and leonardite) with supplemental inorganic fertilizer on the forage yield and quality of silage maize. | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Turk J Agric For (2014) 38: 23-31 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Effects of different organic materials on forage yield and quality of silage maize (Zea mays L.) 1 2, 3 4 1 Recep İrfan NAZLI , Alpaslan KUŞVURAN *, İlker İNAL , Ahmet DEMİRBAŞ , Veyis TANSI 1 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey 2 Kızılırmak Vocational High School, Çankırı Karatekin University, Çankırı, Turkey 3 Eastern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute, Adana, Turkey 4 Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: This study was conducted at the experimental area of the Field Crops Department of Çukurova University (37°01′N, 35°18′E) in the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons to determine the effects of sole or combined applications of 3 organic materials (poultry litter, cattle manure, and leonardite) with supplemental inorganic fertilizer on the forage yield and quality of silage maize. The field trial was arranged in a complete randomized block design with 3 replications. Poultry litter (PL) and cattle manure (CM) were applied based on P or N requirements (PL-P, PL-N, CM-P, and CM-N) of the crop, whereas leonardite was applied in only 1 dose (500 kg ha–1) and was also combined with 3 inorganic fertilizer doses (100%, 75%, and 50% of the recommended inorganic fertilizer dose, called LEO-100, LEO75, and LEO-50, respectively). The results show that the highest values of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) yields ( t ha–1 and 1652 kg ha–1, respectively) were observed in LEO-100, whereas the lowest ( t ha–1 and 758 kg ha–1, respectively) were observed in PL-N. In terms of forage quality parameters (CP, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and .
