Effects of sodium humate on growth and biomass of alfalfa

Pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of the separate fertilizer application of Sodium humate (NaHA) and the fertilizer combination of Sodium Humate (NaHA) and Phosphorus (P) on the growth characteristics and the biomass of alfalfa (Medicago sativa). The results showed that separate application of NaHA and NaHA-P combinationcanimprovealflafaproduction to some extent, while NaHA-P combination could significantly promote it. Whenfertilizer combination of NaHA-P wasappliedand Pmaitain acertain level, the growth rate, plant height, internode number, internode length and biomass of alfalfa increased at first and then decreased as the increase of NaHA dosage. When P increased from P1 (642 kg·ha-1) to P2 (1 286 kg·ha-1), application of NaHA-P1 significantly promotealfalfa production indexescompared with NaHA-P2. The results of Grey Relational Analysis on all tested traits of different nitrogen treatments indicated that NaHA5-P1 canachievehighest total biomass, and had the best comprehensive performance. Therefore, NaHA5-P1(2 118 kg·ha-1NaHA and 642 kg·ha-1 P)was the optimalfertilizercombination.