The Effects of Different Nitrogen Fertilization and Harvesting Stages on Forage Yield and Quality of Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia Bentham)

This research was conducted to determine the effects of five different nitrogen doses (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha^-1) and four different cutting times (before flowering, 50% flowering, full flowering and seed filling stages) on yield and quality components of phacelia (phacelia tanacetifolia bentham) under isparta conditions in the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. the experiment was established in a randomised complete block design with three replicates. hay yield, crude protein (cp) ratio, cp yield, acid detergent fibre (adf), neutral detergent fibre (ndf) ratios, total digestible nutrient (tdn), dry matter intake (dmi), digestible dry matter (ddm) and relative feed value (rfv) were investigated in this research. nitrogen rates and harvesting stages significantly affected most of the quality components determined in phacelia. nitrogen applications increased hay yield, cp ratio, cp yield, ddm, dmi, tdn and rfv, while it decreased adf and ndf ratios. harvesting at the late stages caused a reduction in forage quality. crude protein, tdn, rfv, dmi, ddm contents decreased with advancing stages, while hay yield, cp yield, adf and ndf contents increased. it is possible to obtain high forage yield and good quality with 120 kg ha^-1 nitrogen application in similar ecologies and isparta.