A RESEARCH ON THE HAY YIELD AND QUALITY OF ALFALFA CULTIVARS WITH DIFFERENT FALL DORMANCY RATES UNDER MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE CONDITIONS

Year 2023, Volume: 28 Issue: 2, 194 - 202, 24.12.2023

Hasan Beytullah Dönmez , Rüştü Hatipoğlu

https://doi.org/10.17557/tjfc.1333540

Abstract

This research was carried out as two separate trials established in two different years to determine the effects
of different seed ratios and harvest stages of different annual companion crop species on the hay yield and
botanical composition of a pasture mixture under Mediterranean climate conditions. The field trials were
established in a randomized complete block with a split-plot arrangement in three replications. The research
results showed that barley, annual ryegrass, and berseem clover can be utilized as companion crops in
artificial pasture systems. The inclusion of these companion crop species in the pasture mixture resulted in an
increase in forage yield and a significant decrease in weed infestation. While delaying the harvest stage of the
companion crop does not have a notable effect on the proportion of legumes and weeds in the total biomass, it
significantly enhances the dry forage yield and the proportion of grasses in the overall biomass of the mixture.

Keywords

Alfalfa, Cultivars, Fall dormancy ratio, Forage yield, Quality

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