Abstract:
In most forage production systems, the nutrients needed
for plant growth are provided by microbially mediated
breakdown and release of plant-available mineral nutrients
from dead plant tissues, livestock excreta, soil organic matter, and geochemically bound mineral forms. Even in fertilized forage systems, determining appropriate fertilizer
application rates requires a "systems" approach on the part
of the manager (e.g., Di and Cameron, 2000; Rotz et al.,
2002). Fertilizer additions are simply one input in the system of inputs, outputs, pools, and fluxes that characterize
nutrient cycling in a particular ecosystem