Producing First-Season Alfalfa on Coastal Plain Soils

Abstract

Multiple-year alfalfa production on coastal plain soils has been limited due to problems associated with stand persistence and post-harvest handling. One proposed management strategy is to maximize first-year alfalfa yield and quality, placing less importance on multiple-year alfalfa production. The objective of this study was to compare the effect on first-year alfalfa of four harvest intervals based on morphological stage and three harvest intervals based on a fixed harvest schedule. Dry matter (DM) yields, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and in vitro digestibility were measured. First-year alfalfa DM yield ranged from 9,880 to 13,230 lbs/acre when harvested by morphological stage and from 8,860 to 10,200 lbs/acre when harvested on a fixed schedule. Nutritive value measurements showed small, although inconsistent, improvement in forage quality when harvested at either an early morphological stage (10%) or a short fixed interval (4 weeks). With the adoption of balage harvest systems and high quality imported alfalfa hay often approaching $200 per ton, managing alfalfa as a high quality annual, with an expected yield of 5 tons/acre, should be an economically feasible option for many southern forage producers.