Nitrogen uptake into unfertilized pasture of the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve, central Orange Free State.

Abstract

The herbage yield of five main types of grassland in the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve was measured by clipping five 0, 5 m 2 quadrats taken at random within three 10 m 2 enclosures in each grassland type at approximately monthly intervals from October 1975 to September 1976. The material was separated into green, standing dead and litter fractions, in each of which nitrogen was measured. Available grazing (sum of green and standing dead) and herbage yield in the whole Reserve were estimated by weighting for the areas of each grassland type. Nitrogen uptakes were compared with expectation from nitrogen mineralized in incubated surface soils sampled from each enclosure before the first pasture measurement.

Keywords: clipping; enclosures; grassland; grazing; herbage yield; litter; nitrogen; orange free state; pasture; quadrat; soils; south africa; uptake; willem pretorius game reserve; yield