{"title":"Fall Harvesting of Alfalfa in North Dakota Impacts Plant Density, Yield, and Nutritive Value","authors":"Marisol Berti, Robert Nudell, Dwain W. Meyer","doi":"10.1094/FG-2012-0925-01-RS","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i> L.) is often not harvested in North Dakota during the fall because producers fear the risk of winter-kill and stand reduction. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a fall harvest on plant density, forage yield, and nutritive value of alfalfa. Two replicated experiments were planted and evaluated in Fargo, ND. Experiment 1 was conducted from 2004 to 2008 and Experiment 2 from 2007 to 2011. Treatments in the two experiments were either a 3-cut system with no fall harvest or a 4-cut system with a fall harvest. Analysis was conducted across experiments and years. In certain years, plant density was significantly reduced when alfalfa was harvested in the fall. The 4-cut system, which included a fall harvest, had significantly greater seasonal forage yield. The total seasonal forage yield for the 4-cut system was approximately 1.04 to 3.88 Mg/ha greater than that of the 3-cut system. However, including a fall harvest decreased forage yield in the first cut the following season. In general, a fall harvest of alfalfa increases seasonal forage yield without reducing stand persistence and overall forage nutritive value.</p>","PeriodicalId":100549,"journal":{"name":"Forage & Grazinglands","volume":"10 1","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2012-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1094/FG-2012-0925-01-RS","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Forage & Grazinglands","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1094/FG-2012-0925-01-RS","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is often not harvested in North Dakota during the fall because producers fear the risk of winter-kill and stand reduction. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a fall harvest on plant density, forage yield, and nutritive value of alfalfa. Two replicated experiments were planted and evaluated in Fargo, ND. Experiment 1 was conducted from 2004 to 2008 and Experiment 2 from 2007 to 2011. Treatments in the two experiments were either a 3-cut system with no fall harvest or a 4-cut system with a fall harvest. Analysis was conducted across experiments and years. In certain years, plant density was significantly reduced when alfalfa was harvested in the fall. The 4-cut system, which included a fall harvest, had significantly greater seasonal forage yield. The total seasonal forage yield for the 4-cut system was approximately 1.04 to 3.88 Mg/ha greater than that of the 3-cut system. However, including a fall harvest decreased forage yield in the first cut the following season. In general, a fall harvest of alfalfa increases seasonal forage yield without reducing stand persistence and overall forage nutritive value.