Background:The incorporation of legumes,specifically alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.),into bermudagrass(Cynodon spp.)-based pasture systems in the southeastern United States has increased in recent years as an alternative ...Background:The incorporation of legumes,specifically alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.),into bermudagrass(Cynodon spp.)-based pasture systems in the southeastern United States has increased in recent years as an alternative to synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilization.Methods:A small plot evaluation was conducted in Shorter,Alabama,and Tifton,Georgia,USA,to evaluate the impact of harvest height(HH)and harvest frequency(HF)on agronomic characteristics of alfalfa+bermudagrass mixtures in southeastern United States.Results:Results from both locations revealed that the longer the HF and the shorter the HH,the greater the alfalfa retention was in the stand(p<0.01).HH did not impact any of the reported nutritive value parameters,while longer HF resulted in lower total digestible nutrients,lower crude protein,higher acid detergent fiber,and lower 48 h in vitro dry matter digestibility(p<0.01).Both HH and HF impacted forage accumulation at both locations(p<0.01).HH resulted in different trends at each location,while longer frequencies generally increased forage accumulation.Conclusions:This research confirmed recent findings from comparable evaluations in the southeastern United States,in that increasing HH and decreasing HF improved alfalfa retention while having a negligible effect on nutritive value or forage accumulation.展开更多
基金National Institute of Food and Agriculture,Grant/Award Number:2017-70005-27089。
文摘Background:The incorporation of legumes,specifically alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.),into bermudagrass(Cynodon spp.)-based pasture systems in the southeastern United States has increased in recent years as an alternative to synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilization.Methods:A small plot evaluation was conducted in Shorter,Alabama,and Tifton,Georgia,USA,to evaluate the impact of harvest height(HH)and harvest frequency(HF)on agronomic characteristics of alfalfa+bermudagrass mixtures in southeastern United States.Results:Results from both locations revealed that the longer the HF and the shorter the HH,the greater the alfalfa retention was in the stand(p<0.01).HH did not impact any of the reported nutritive value parameters,while longer HF resulted in lower total digestible nutrients,lower crude protein,higher acid detergent fiber,and lower 48 h in vitro dry matter digestibility(p<0.01).Both HH and HF impacted forage accumulation at both locations(p<0.01).HH resulted in different trends at each location,while longer frequencies generally increased forage accumulation.Conclusions:This research confirmed recent findings from comparable evaluations in the southeastern United States,in that increasing HH and decreasing HF improved alfalfa retention while having a negligible effect on nutritive value or forage accumulation.
