The Effect Of Nitrogen Fertilization And Harvest Height On Forage Yields And Qualities Of Ramie

China is a country that has a huge forage demand as well as considerable forage shortage. The preliminary experiments showed that ramie had hug developmental potential of forage for its high crude protein content by20%up and down.In the present study, three different harvest heights (40cm,70cm,100cm) and urea fertilizer treatment levels(0kg/hm2,200kg/hm2,300kg/hm2) were tested and their effects on forage yields and nutrition qualities of Xiang Zhu3and Tri1were analyzed to develop cultivation technical manual of common ramie varieties and thereby open up its application in feeding. The results were as follows.(1) The differences in root-rotting, raw weight, dry weight and forage qualities were significant between varieties. The average root count, raw weight and dry weight of Tri1were superior to Xiang Zhu3by21.05%,12.77%and8.42%, respectively. The remarkable differences of forage qualities were mainly seen on crude protein contents and crude fiber contents. The crude protein content of Tri1was0.41%higher than that of Xiang Zhu3, while the crude fiber contents was inferior to Xiang Zhu3. By and large, Tri1was more suitable as forage than Xiang Zhu3because of its lower degree of root-rotting, higher outputs and superior qualities.(2) The effect of harvest height on root-rotting, raw weight, dry weight and forage qualities was remarkable. The root count of70cm harvest height was15%higher than those of40cm and100cm height. Ramie forage of100cm height was superior to that of40cm height by127.28%and45.37%in raw weight and dry weight; and to that of70cm by40.17%and41.62%. Ramie forage of40cm height gave a highest crude protein content of19.44%and lowest crude crude fiber content of21.70%. It indicated that70cm was the optimal harvest height of ramie forage, which maintained a balance between the forage yields and qualities.(3) The root-rotting, raw weight, dry weight and forage qualities were affected significant by nitrogenous fertilizer treatments. The root count on N1was highly significant higher than NO and N2levels, it indicated that non-nitrogenous fertilizing and excess nitrogenous fertilizing would result in root-rotten of forage ramie. The raw weight, dry weight and forage qualities on N1level were higher than those on NO and N2levels. Based on these findings, it could be stated that N1treatment is the best among that above three nitrogenous fertilizer levels and it could effectively improve the outputs and qualities of ramie forage.As shown above, using common ramie varieties as forage would result in root rotting on ramie, and the degree of root-rotting is different among varieties. Proper nitrogenous fertilizer levels and harvest heights could increase ramie forage yields and improve its nutritional qualities.