Effects of Super-Absorbent Polymers (SAPs) Plus Manure Treatments on Vegetation Cover and Soil Nutrients of Festuca ovina under Drought Stress

Knowledge of physiological and environmental factors is important for foragegrass production. Festuca ovina is a grass species adapted to Azerbaijan region climate,Iran. This species is a valuable source for forage production and soil conservation.Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) are three most important plant nutrients.The aims of present study were to investigate the effects of super absorbance polymer andcattle manure on vegetation growth and soil NPK element of Festuca ovina under droughtstress. A split-plot design was used with drought stress as the main plot (control, -0.3 and-0.9 Mp) and polymer +fertilizer as the sub factor (T1: control, T2: 50 g manure, T3: 5 gpolymer, T4: 5 g polymer + 50g manure, T5: 10 g polymer, and T6: 10 g polymer + 50gmanure) in five replications. N, P and K contents of soil samples were determined beforeand after the experiment using Kjeldal, P-Olsen and flame photometer methods. The dataof NPK and two cuts of vegetation covers were collected and analyzed using SASsoftware. The results showed that the application of polymer and manure had positiveeffects on all the traits. Higher values of vegetation covers were observed in T4 and T6treatments where both polymer and manure were applied. Higher values of NPK with theaverage values of 0.69%, 21 ppm, and 395 ppm, respectively were observed in T6: (10 gpolymer + 50g manure) and the higher vegetation cover with the average values of 82%and 46% were obtained in the first and second cuts, respectively at the same treatments.Since there were no significant differences between T6 and T4, it was recommended toapply 5g polymer coupled with 50g cattle manure in 4300 g of soil to improve grassproduction in drought environment.