Breeding and Selection of Alfalfa for Improved Performance Under Less Than Optimum Moisture Conditions

摘要

A highly significant difference in forage production was obtained among varieties when averaged across moisture regimes over three production years. There was a highly significant difference for the average production of 24 entries among moisture regimes over the three production years. The variety x moisture interaction was significant indicating that all varieties did not give the same relative performance across and within moisture regimes for the three year period. Even though the 80 inch regime produced more forage for the three years of testing, observations would indicate that this is to much water, especially on clay soil. This would be a serious problem if the crop was grown for four or five years. For percent dry matter the largest source of variation was among moisture regimes. The lower the moisture regime, the higher the percent dry matter.