Department of Plant Sciences

The zeolite and urea mixture may be use to improve N efficiency use of silage corn. The objective of this study was to evaluate dry matter yield, quality components and nutritional levels of nitrogen of silage corn fertilized with urea and zeolite mixture. The experimental design was a 2 X 4 X 4 factorial randomized block design with three replications. Treatments comprised two types of stilbite zeolite (natural and concentrated), four levels of nitrogen (0, 50, 100 and 200 kg.ha-1) and four ratios of zeolite (25%, 50% and 100% of N level). Treatments were applied 60 days after planting with the topdressing fertilization. The ratio of 62% and 48%, respectively, of concentrated (650 g kg-1 of stilbite) and natural (470 g kg-1 of stilbite) zeolite with urea increased silage corn dry matter production and provided the best use of N at the higher doses of fertilizer, as indicated by higher levels of N in leaves. There were no significant differences between levels of fertilization and quality compounds: neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and in vitro digestibility. But crude protein increased linearly with N levels.