Page 20—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 22, 2000
REDUCING THE
POTASSIUM CONTENT
OF FORAGES THROUGH
FORAGE MANAGEMENT
Dr. Marvin H. Hall
Penn State Forage
Specialist
In recent years, potassium
(K) content of forages has
become a major concern on
dairy farms because it plays a
major role in cation balance of
the feed ration which is a con
tributing factor for milk fever.
Increasing K level in the
soil, because of current manure
management strategies and
excessive K fertilization, has
resulted in relatively high K
levels in many of our forages.
High K content of forages
increases the difficulty in bal
ancing the ration with respect
to divalent cations such as
magnesium and calcium.
However, there are a few man
agement practices that can be
implemented to reduce forage
K content and minimize the
potential problems before it
occurs.
• Apply manure or potassi
um-containing fertilizers only
where they are recommended
through soil testing. When soil
potassium exceeds recom
mended levels, it accumulates
in forage plants without a con
current increase in forage
yield. This situation results in
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forages with excessively high K
content.
• Allow forages to mature as
much as possible before har
vest. There are some obvious
forage quality trade-offs asso
ciated with this practice.
However, K levels can be
reduced by about 25 percent
for example, (2.3 to 1.8 per
cent) if alfalfa is allowed to
mature from bud to 25 percent I
flower before harvesting.
• Harvest the forage as low
to the ground as possible. The
tops of forage plants contain
higher concentrations of K
than the base of plants.
Harvesting close to the ground
will result in lower K content
forage.
• Practices that keep more
leaves in harvested forage will
reduce K content because K
tends to accumulate in the
stem.
• Include a grass in the for
age mixture. Grasses tend to
have lower K content than
legumes. However, on soils
with excessive K levels grasses
can also contain excessive
amounts of K.
For all these management
practices to be effective a good
system of forage monitoring
and inventory must be in
place. Segregating forage
based on K content and match
ing this with the needs of ani
mal groups is essential.
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