Effect of Row Spacing and Seeding Rate on Forage Yield Local Alfalfa, c.v. Gara Yonjeh (Medicago sativa)

Subject Areas : Journal of Crop Ecophysiology

A.  Salek Zamani ¹ (Staff member, East Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Tabriz, Iran)
A.  FakhrVaezi ² (Staff member, Qazvin Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Qazvin, Iran)

Received: 2009-06-16 Accepted : 2011-05-02 Published : 2011-01-21

Keywords: Row Spacing, Dryland, Alfalfa (Gara Yonjeh), Medicago sativa, seeding rate,

Abstract :

To identify suitable seeding rate and row spacing and their interaction effects on local alfalfa (Gara Yonjeh C.V.) forage yield, this experiment was carried out at Maragheh Dryland Research Station for four years. Experimental design was strip plot with 4 replications. Row spacing was assigned to horizontal plots (A1= 25 cm, A2= 30 cm, A3= 40 cm) and seeding rate to vertical plots (B1= 15 kg/ha, B2= 20 kg/ha, B3= 30 kg/ha, B4= 40 kg/ha). The Combined analyses of data in 3 years showed that there were significant differences between row spacing but there were not significant differences among seeding rates. Interactions of row space × seeding rate were not significant. Means comparisons showed that yield of A1B3 entry (row space=25 cm, seed rate=30 kg/ha) with 3135 kg/ha dry forage and 5653 kg/ha wet forage was higher than the yields of other entries. Relation of Yield related to rainfall was found to be a polynomial function.