The effects of fertilizer and mycorhiza on yield and quality of second crop silage corn

Silage corn is an important roughage source that is preferably consumed by animals due to its easy digestibility, high nutritional value, and because it is delicious for ruminants. Mycorrhiza fungi have been commonly used in recent years to reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers. This fungus may increase the mineral absorption of plants from soil via roots. In the study, the effects of mycorrhiza and nitrogen fertilization on yield and forage quality of second-crop silage maize were examined under Eskisehir ecological conditions of the 2022 year. The experiment was designed using the complete random blocks design with spit-plots with 3 replications at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Experimental Station of Agricultural Faculty. Experimental materials were the Simpatico cultivar (FAO 300) of silage maize, mycorrhiza fungi, and ammonium sulfate (21%) fertilizer as nitrogen resources. Nitrogen fertilization was applied as control (0+0), 0+10, 5+5, 10+10, 0+20 (base + top fertilization). Plant height, yield, dry matter yield, dry matter ratio, leaf-stem-cob ratios, stem diameter, and crude protein-NDF-ADF ratios were investigated. According to the results, mycorrhiza application did not have any significant effect on the investigated characteristics. Various nitrogen applications affected plant height, dry matter yield, and leaf ratio at the significance level of 1 %, but the yield, dry matter ratio, and crude protein ratio at the significance level of 5 %. Depending on the nitrogen fertilization, plant height changed between 250.0 – 301.2 cm, yield changed between 6158.6 – 9713.6 kg da-1, dry matter yield changed between 1768.9 – 2577.9 kg da-1, dry matter ratio changed between 24.6 – 28.0 %, leaf ratio between 16.1 – 19.4 %, stem ratio between 39.1 – 43.7 %, cob ratio between 37.4 – 43.8 %, stem diameter between 23.0 – 24.5 mm, crude protein ratio between 6.7 – 8.6 %, NDF ratio between 47.6 – 49.3 % and the ADF ratio between 24.3 – 26.1 %. Research findings indicated that a minimum 5+5 kg da-1, optimum 0+20 kg da-1 nitrogen fertilizer should be applied for the optimum dry matter yield in second crop silage maize production in Eskisehir or similar ecological conditions. However, the experiment should be continued for the next years to increase the accuracy of the findings.