Performance evaluation of some alfalfa cultivars on different harvest dates
Fayzollah Khalaj
1
(
Agriculture organization
)
Mohammad Nasri
2
(
University
)
Keywords: Forage yield, Physical characteristics, Variety, Key words: Alfalfa, cut,
Abstract :
Different varieties of alfalfa respond differently to climatic and environmental conditions. Varieties that can be adapted to the area under cultivation and having high yield and quality performance during different crops and years are suitable. In order to study the effect of variety on different characteristics of alfalfa, an experiment was conducted based on randomized complete blocks design with four replications in Varamin Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center. In this study, five foreign Varieties of alfalfa (Timbale), Fasta, Melissa, Meldor, Sovrana imported from France and Hamedani variety, a total of six cultivars of was cultivated in common cultivars Spring (first decade of May). Qualitative and yield characteristics of the studied varieties in three cut (First cut: harvest at 10% flowering stage, second cut: harvest at 50% flowering stage and third cut: harvest at 100% flowering stage). Results showed that interaction between variety type and harvesting stages was significant on yield of fresh forage and protein at 1% level and on dry forage yield at 5% level. The highest fresh and dry forage yield in all treatments was related to Hamedani variety in first cut (26.69 and 5.45 ton per hectare, respectively). As harvesting stages increased, forage yield decreased. The highest protein yield was related to Hamedani variety in the first cut (776.3 kg/hectare) and the lowest protein yield was in Melissa hectare in third cut (244.9 kg/hectare). Among the studied physical traits, the highest (3.48) and lowest (1.93) leaf area index were observed in Hamedani and Melissa varieties, respectively
