Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer on Yield Contributing Characters, Biomass Yield Chemical Composition and Determine and Compare I

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of nitrogen application on the yield contributing characteristics, biomass yield and nutritive values of cowpea forage. Five nitrogen levels viz: 0 (T0), 15 (T1), 20 (T2), 25 (T3) and 30 (T0) kg N/ha were applied in 20 plots in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The result showed that the application of nitrogen fertilizer had significant (P<0.01) effect on plant height and highest plant height (96.25 cm) was observed at 25 kgN/ha. However, application of nitrogen fertilizer from urea did not show any significant effect on branching of plant. The application of nitrogen fertilizer significantly (P<0.01) increased the green, dry and organic matter, and crude protein yield of cowpea forage. No significant difference (P>0.01) among the groups for chemical composition of cowpea forage was observed due to increasing rate of N fertilizer. Similarly, N fertilization had no affect on OM digestibility and ME content of cowpea forage. From the results of the present study, it may be concluded that the application of N at the rate of 25 Kg N/ha could be used for cowpea forage production.