The effects of polyacrylamide and animal fertilizer (manure) on the production and height of Festuca ovina under laboratory conditions

Rangeland production mainly depends on rainfall in arid and semi-arid areas. Using polyacrylamide polymers can reduce water shortage stress in some extent. The present study was carried out to investigate and compare the influence of polyacrylamide and animal manure on the performance of F. ovina species under drought stress. The effects of three levels of water stress as the main factor and six levels of polymers & manure as the secondary factor on F. ovina production were studied and analyzed. The used six levels of polymer & manure treatment were T1: Control, T2: 0Gr. Polyacrylamide, 50Gr. Manure, T3: 5Gr. Polyacrylamide, 0Gr. Manure, T4: 5Gr. Polyacrylamide, 50Gr. Manure, T5: 10Gr. Polyacrylamide, 0Gr. Manure, and T6: 10Gr. Polyacrylamide, 50Gr. Manure. The collected data was analyzed using a split plot layout within a randomized complete block design with three replications. According to the results, T1, T2 and T3 in compare with T6 had significant different effects on the species height. The application of T4 and T6 had relatively the same effects on the species height and did not differ significantly. The lowest and highest heights of the species were recorded using T0 and T6 respectively. The Production and the regrowth yield of the species in T1 to T5 levels were increased compared with T0. According to the results, despite the doubling the amount of polyacrylamide in T5 compared with T3, the species production and its regrowth yield did not increased significantly. The differences between T3 and T4 levels and also between T5 and T6 levels were significant. Overall, using polyacrylamide polymer and manure improved F. ovina performances. The best performance of the species obtained via using 10g of polyacrylamide polymer and 50g of animal manure in laboratory conditions. Moreover, the obtained results confirmed that using a combination of polyacrylamide polymer and animal manure had more positive effects on the performance of F. ovina than using higher amount of polyacrylamide polymer alone.