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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #407809
Research Project: Improved Management, Quality and Utilization of Alfalfa for Dairies in the Western U.S.

Location: Water Management Research

Title: Impact of novel harvest strategies and improved cultivars on alfalfa yield and nutritive value in a Mediterranean environment

Author
item Begna, Sultan
item PEREZ, BRENDA - University Of California, Davis
item MOHAMED, ABDELMONEIM - University Of California Agriculture And Natural Resources (UCANR)
item SWANSON, KATHERINE - University Of California, Davis
item BRUMER, E - University Of California, Davis
item Wang, Dong
item BALI, KHALED - Kearney Agricultural Center
item PUTNAM, DANIEL - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Grassland Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/17/2024
Publication Date: 3/6/2025
Citation: Begna, S.H., Perez, B., Mohamed, A.Z., Swanson, K., Brumer, E.C., Wang, D., Bali, K., Putnam, D.H. 2025. Impact of novel harvest strategies and improved cultivars on alfalfa yield and nutritive value in a Mediterranean environment. Grassland Research. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/glr2.12112.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/glr2.12112

Interpretive Summary: Alfalfa growers are challenged by yield-quality tradeoff problems involving cutting schedules; therefore, yield and forage quality of higher quality cultivars were evaluated under different cutting schedules. High quality cultivars cut at 35-day intervals resulted in high yields while maintaining quality. Adapting higher quality cultivars grown under staggered and delayed cutting schedules can be used to achieve sustainable forage production in California.

Technical Abstract: Delayed alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cutting results in high yield but with advanced crop maturity resulting in hay high in lignin content, reduced fiber digestibility and nutritive value. Recent studies of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa (HarvXtra) have shown the potential to minimize yield-quality tradeoff. These studies evaluated only GE cultivars of fall dormancy (FD) 4 adapted to the Temperate environment. There is little information on GE and conventionally bred cultivars of semi-dormant (FD 6-7) and non-dormant (FD 8-10). We evaluated nutritive value and dry matter (DM) yield of eight cultivars (2 HarvXtra, 2 Hi-Gest, and 4 Conventional) adapted to California’s Central Valley Mediterranean environment in Parlier, in 2017-2021. A split-plot design with cutting schedules (28 days, 35-d, and staggered) as main- and cultivars as sub-plots were used. Delayed cutting resulted in greater DM yield compared to other treatments but not consistent across years. Cultivars did not consistently differ in DM yield across years but ‘AFX960’ (Hi-Gest) was the greatest while ‘SW9720’ (conventional) the lowest yielding. Seasonal and 4-yrs average nutritive value decreased with delayed cutting. Nutritive value of cultivars was in the order of HarvXtra > Hi-Gest > conventional. HarvXtra and Hi-Gest, respectively, were 6% and 1% greater in neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD), 6 % and 4 % lower in acid detergent lignin and 2% greater in crud protein than conventional cultivar. HarvXtra type with 35-d cut achieved similar NDFD to conventional cultivar type cut on 28-d. Higher quality cultivars of FD 6-10 grown with staggered and late cutting schedules in Mediterranean environment can be used to maximize yield while achieving adequate fiber digestibility.