Animal husbandry, especially dairy production, is a very important developing industry for Yunnan’s agriculture and for improvement of farmers’ income. It has gained considerable momentum in the last decade. Encouraged by the local government, a number of forage farms have been set up in the province. Due to poor management and unbalanced fertilization, yield and quality of forage crops are low. In order to boost the dairy industry and maintain its sustainable development, field trials were conducted to examine the impact of balanced fertilization on the yield and quality of forage crops and to serve farmers in high quality forage production.

The experiments were conducted in Xiao Shao Pasture and Xun Dian Pasture - where two main cow raising bases in Yunnan are located. Results showed that the yields of forage crops on two pastures significantly increased with phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizations. With P fertilization, ryegrass yield increased by 23.81% to 57.67% at the Xiao Shao site and white clover yield by 11.27% to 37.68% at the Xundian site. With K application, ryegrass yield increased by 15.19% to 58.62% at the Xiao Shao site and white clover yield by 5.33% to 30.54% at the Xundian site, respectively. The fertilizer recommendations are worked out as 105-120-180 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha for ryegrass in Xiao shao and 105-120-120 kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha for clover in Xun Dian.

The experiment of balanced fertilization with N, P and K on ryegrass and clover in Yunnan indicates that balanced fertilization is the key to maintain soil fertility and improve yield and quality of the forage crops.