The relationship between growth characteristics and the quality of alfalfa under sprinkler irrigation in the northwest arid area of China

doi:10.11686/cyxb2017479

Abstract

Abstract: Estimating forage quality with field measurements is useful for alfalfa production. In order to investigate the prediction of quality from growth characteristics, this experiment studied the growth and quality of alfalfa under different sprinkler irrigation levels. The experiment was conducted at the Shiyanghe Experimental Station for Water-Saving in Agriculture and Ecology of China Agricultural University in Wuwei, Gansu, over a period of two years. Three irrigation levels were applied: A₁ (100% measured evapotranspiration (ETc)), A₂ (66% of A₁), A₃ (33% of A₁) and A₄ (a rain-fed treatment). The results showed that plant height (H) and stem-leaf ratio (SLR) increased while the fresh-dry ratio (FDR) decreased with plant maturity. All these growth characteristics decreased with lowering levels of irrigation. In terms of quality, crude protein (CP) decreased but neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) increased with plant maturity. NDF and ADF decreased and CP increased with lowering levels of irrigation. H and SLR had a significant linear relationship with quality (P<0.001). The coefficients of determination between quality and H (R²>0.900) were higher than those for SLR, while the results for FDR were not significant. These results imply that, when field management is good, alfalfa height could be used to estimate forage quality.

Key words: alfalfa, sprinkler irrigation, growth characteristics, quality index, quality estimation

LI Yan, SU De-rong, LI Hong-tao. The relationship between growth characteristics and the quality of alfalfa under sprinkler irrigation in the northwest arid area of China[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2018, 27(10): 54-65.

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