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Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2014, 13(10): 2260-2267
October 2014
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China ZHANG Tie-jun1, KANG Jun-mei1, GUO Wen-shan1, ZHAO Zhong-xiang2, XU Yu-peng2, YAN Xudong2 and YANG Qing-chuan1 1 2
Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R.China Cangzhou Technical College, Cangzhou 061001, P.R.China
Abstract Cultivar selection is important for alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay production. From 2009 to 2012, a field study was conducted to evaluate the dry matter yield (DMY) of 28 cultivars in Cangzhou District of Hebei province, China, and to determine the most suitable cultivars for this province and other zones with similar climate conditions. 28 alfalfa cultivars were sown in late March of 2009 and were harvested for hay four times in each subsequent year. The results showed that the climatic conditions resulted in significant differences in annual DMY among years, with the second year being the highest and the first year the lowest. The top five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), German (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1), respectively. Across all four years, first harvest had the highest ratios to annual DMY except the cultivar of Rambler, while the fourth harvest had the lowest ratio. There were positive correlation relationships between DMY of each harvest and annual DMY, and the correlation coefficients were all significant in four years. And the path coefficients of first harvest were always the highest in four years. The qualities showed small variations among these cultivars and the cultivar L3750 presented the highest crude protein in both years. Crude protein had significant positive correlation with relative feed value (RFV) in both years while crude fiber had significant negative correlation with RFV and crude fiber. Key words: alfalfa, cultivars, yield, forage quality
INTRODUCTION Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a very important legume forage and has a wide distribution plant in China and all over the world (Iannucci et al. 2002). In recent years, the expanding intensive livestock systems have resulted in a large demand for forage in China. However, grassland sown to alfalfa was only about 2.6×106 ha and produced 3.0×105 t hay products, far lower than the actual demand, and this has led to a sharp increase in the hay import and
price of alfalfa forage (Yang and Wang 2011). A program titled Returning Degraded Land or Marginal Land to Forest or Grass, similar to the Conservation Reserve Program in USA, was initiated across China in 1999 to conserve soil and water resources in areas prone to erosion (Wang 2005). Alfalfa was widely cultivated as a soil cover or as windbreaks in arid and semi-arid areas of northern China. And from 2012 to 2016 the Ministry of Agriculture of the people’s Republic of China spend 525 millions CNY each year to encourage the standard production of alfalfa hay. Thus, the area devoted to forage production of alfalfa has increased steadily in last
Received 9 June, 2013 Accepted 22 July, 2013 ZHANG Tie-jun, Tel: +86-10-62816357-601, Mobile: 18911629095, E-mail: [email protected]; Correspondence YANG Qing-chuan, Tel/Fax: +86-10-62735996, E-mail: [email protected]
© 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/S2095-3119(13)60576-6
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
RESULTS Statistical probabilities of the F test for year, cultivar and their interactions for dry matter yield (DMY) and annual plant height are summarized in Table 1. There were significant year×cultivar interactions for annual DMY and annual plant height, indicating the variable performance of different cultivars among years.
Dry matter yield During the last three years, the climatic conditions including the mean temperature and precipitation were quite variable, resulting in significant DMY differences among years (Fig.). The highest annual DMY were
Table 1 Statistical probabilities of F test for year, cultivar and their interactions on annual dry matter yield and annual plant height Source
df
Year (Y) Cultivar (C) Y×C
3 27 81
**
Annual dry matter yield (F values) 743.8** 31.6** 2.5**
df 3 27 81
Annual plant height (F values) 2 441.0** 19.6** 1.5**
, significant at P=0.01; *, significance at P=0.05. The same as below.
20 Annual dry matter yield (t ha-1)
years, which has stimulated researches in the factors that limit alfalfa forage production. The cultivar selections are important for hay production of alfalfa. The increase of yield owns about 30% to the cultivar and unsuitable cultivar probably results in the decrease of yield especially the failure of establishment (Wang et al. 2009). Some field experiments have been conducted to test the performance of alfalfa cultivars in North China and suggested the suitable cultivars such as WL324, Forerunner and DKl27 (Mao 2006; Wang 2011). However, most research last for two or three years and the relative feed value (RFV) of these cultivars were not test. With the expansion of alfalfa planting area, the import of alfalfa seed has increased twice from 2010 to 2012 and many new alfalfa cultivars have been introduced into China (Wang et al. 2012), most of which have not been test on their performance before popularizing in North China. Thus, little information is available on the forage yield and the resistance of these cultivars to disease and insects in the local climate and soil condition, which limited the forage production of alfalfa. Huanghuaihai plain, including southern and central parts of Hebei province, is one of the largest alfalfa production area in China. In this study, 28 alfalfa cultivars were tested over four consecutive years. The main objective was to determine the adaptability of these alfalfa cultivars and select the best ones for forage production in this area. The second objective was to provide information for alfalfa breeding in this area.
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a
18 16
b
b
2011
2012
14 12 10
c
8 6 4 2 0
2009
2010
Fig. Mean annual yield (t ha-1) of different years. Different letters indicate a significant difference at P<0.05.
obtained in 2010 for all cultivars. Total annual DMY of each cultivar were quite variable, ranging from 22.07 to 62.75 t ha-1 (Table 2). The five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), German (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1), respectively; these cultivars were not significantly different (P<0.05). The three cultivars with the lowest total annual DMY were Rambler (22.07 t ha-1), Emperor (41.01 t ha-1) and Kitawakaba (44.11 t ha-1), and Rambler were significantly lower than other 27 cultivars.
DMY and ratios of each harvest Averaged across four years, there were significant differences in mean DMY of each harvest (Table 3) (P<0.05). For 27 cultivars except Rambler, first harvest resulted in the highest DMY and fourth harvest, the lowest, and there was a decreasing trend in DMY from first to fourth harvest. The top five cultivars with the highest DMY of first harvest were Zhongmu 1 (5.83 t ha-1), German (5.61 t ha-1), Horn (5.57 t ha-1), L2750 (5.52 t ha-1) and 86-266 (5.50 t ha-1), which were the same as those with the highest total annual DMY. Similarly, the cultivars with the lowest total annual DMY also had the lowest © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Table 2 Annual dry matter yield (t ha-1) of 28 alfalfa cultivars in the different years Cultivars 86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal LSD 0.05
2009 8.79 8.37 6.86 8.61 9.08 8.35 8.09 8.22 7.87 9.44 8.37 6.78 8.57 8.97 8.71 8.82 9.20 7.91 9.08 6.20 5.61 8.39 7.90 7.84 7.73 8.86 8.70 7.99 1.51
2010 19.33 16.54 16.97 18.52 20.83 18.34 19.65 16.94 18.07 19.43 17.36 15.14 16.51 18.67 17.98 19.81 20.10 16.43 18.25 13.22 10.76 15.04 17.66 18.41 16.73 19.19 16.81 14.83 2.09
2011 16.86 12.38 14.51 15.51 16.69 14.29 15.17 14.01 14.39 16.32 16.38 11.61 13.64 15.54 16.67 16.72 17.44 13.53 15.03 11.21 2.47 13.84 13.51 16.87 13.94 16.73 16.64 10.87 2.13
2012 16.57 12.28 14.69 14.18 16.15 14.14 14.44 13.76 14.39 16.24 16.32 10.59 13.80 15.86 15.93 15.01 15.99 13.49 13.96 10.38 3.24 13.53 13.79 16.25 14.54 16.41 15.77 11.54 2.60
Total 61.55 49.57 53.03 56.82 62.75 55.12 57.35 52.93 54.71 61.44 58.43 44.11 52.52 59.05 59.29 60.36 62.72 51.36 56.32 41.01 22.07 50.80 52.85 59.37 52.93 61.18 57.92 45.23 6.00
Order 3 24 17 13 1 15 12 19 16 4 10 26 21 9 8 6 2 22 14 27 28 23 20 7 18 5 11 25
Significant ab fgh cdefg abcdef a bcdef abcde cdef bcdef ab abcd hi cdefg abc abc ab a edfg abcdef i j efg cdefg abc cdefg ab abcde ghi
Within a column, data followed by the same small letters are not significantly different according to LSD at P=0.05. The same as below.
Table 3 The mean DMY and ratios of mean yield of each harvest to annual dry matter yield of different alfalfa cultivars Cultivars 86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal Mean
First harvest 5.50 4.40 4.63 5.09 5.52 4.74 5.22 4.77 4.92 5.61 5.49 3.91 4.88 5.23 5.48 5.42 5.57 4.47 5.50 3.53 1.87 4.99 4.46 5.31 4.87 5.83 5.29 4.38 4.89
Mean DMY of each harvest Second harvest Third harvest 4.91 2.96 4.07 2.68 4.11 2.64 4.36 2.81 5.12 3.07 4.41 2.83 4.72 2.60 4.11 2.68 4.41 2.58 4.75 3.16 4.19 2.97 3.60 2.29 4.05 2.85 4.93 2.80 4.40 3.16 4.92 2.82 4.89 3.05 4.02 2.67 4.41 2.57 3.24 2.20 2.27 1.15 3.46 2.69 4.30 2.70 4.64 2.98 3.75 2.92 4.52 3.10 4.51 2.81 3.33 2.62 4.23 2.73
Fourth harvest 2.69 1.68 2.50 2.60 2.64 2.40 2.40 2.24 2.36 2.45 2.61 1.65 1.80 2.39 2.37 2.57 2.89 2.24 2.13 1.72 0.31 2.07 2.32 2.55 2.27 2.47 2.50 1.29 2.22
First harvest 34.3 34.2 33.3 34.3 33.8 32.9 35.0 34.6 34.3 35.1 36.0 34.2 35.9 34.0 35.5 34.5 33.9 33.4 37.7 33.0 33.5 37.8 32.4 34.2 35.2 36.5 35.0 37.6 34.7
Ratios of each harvest Second harvest Third harvest 30.6 18.4 31.7 21.0 29.7 19.0 29.4 18.8 31.3 18.8 30.7 19.8 31.5 17.4 29.8 19.4 31.1 18.1 29.8 19.8 27.5 19.5 31.5 20.0 29.9 21.0 32.2 18.2 28.6 20.5 31.2 18.0 29.8 18.7 30.0 19.9 30.2 17.5 30.4 20.7 40.5 20.4 26.1 20.5 31.2 19.6 30.0 19.3 27.1 21.1 28.5 19.4 29.9 18.6 28.8 22.5 30.3 19.5
Fourth harvest 16.7 13.1 18.0 17.5 16.1 16.7 16.1 16.2 16.6 15.4 17.1 14.3 13.2 15.6 15.5 16.3 17.6 16.7 14.6 15.9 5.5 15.6 16.8 16.5 16.5 15.6 16.5 11.1 15.5
© 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
values of first harvest. In addition, the ratios of each harvest decreased significantly from first to fourth harvest except Rambler whose second harvest obtained the highest ratio. There was a positive relationship between DMY of each harvest (H1, H2, H3, H4) and annual DMY during four years. And the correlation coefficients were very
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significant (P<0.01), except in 2010, H3 were significantly (P<0.05) correlated with annual DMY (Table 4). Path analysis showed that H1 had the highest direct effect on annual DMY in the later three years, the coefficients are 0.51, 0.38 and 0.42, respectively, while H4 was the lowest. Thus, H1 was the most important component describing annual DMY among four harvests and H4 was the least.
Table 4 Correlation analysis and path analysis for dry matter yield of each harvest (n=30) 2009 Harvest1) H1 H2 H3 H4 1)
Anuual dry matter yield 0.77** 0.89** 0.85**
2010 path coefficient 0.33 0.48 0.38
Anuual dry matter yield 0.83** 0.81** 0.23* 0.73**
2011 path coefficient 0.51 0.42 0.22 0.25
Anuual dry matter yield 0.93** 0.89** 0.83** 0.87**
path coefficient 0.38 0.27 0.24 0.23
2012 Anuual dry path matter yield coefficient 0.91** 0.42 0.87** 0.30 0.85** 0.22 0.83** 0.21
H1, first harvest; H2, second harvest; H3, third harvest; H4, fourth harvest.
Forage quality
Table 5 The quality test of first harvest of 28 alfalfa cultivars in 2010 and 2011 Cultivars
In 2011 and 2012, crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF) and RFV of 28 cultivars of first harvest were test. The climatic conditions greatly affected the Cp and CF, and on the whole, CP and CF in 2011 were higher than those in 2012 among 28 cultivars (Table 5). However, there were small variation in the comparisons among these cultivars and no cultivar was consistently the top five cultivars with the highest or lowest CF and RFV, except that the cultivar L3750 presented the highest CP in both years. There were positive correlations between CP and RFV in 2011 and 2012, and the correlation coefficients were significant across the 28 cultivars (Table 6). On the other hand, correlation analysis revealed the significant negative correlations between CF and CP in both years, and the CF was significantly negative correlated with RFV.
DISCUSSION High herbage yield is the major goal in forage production and the increase of yield owns about 30% to the cultivar (Wang et al. 2009). And alfalfa is perennial thus the cultivar selection is the first step for hay production. With the planting area of alfalfa increasing, many field experiments were conducted to test the performance of alfalfa cultivars in North China and suggested the suitable cultivars such as WL324, Forerunner, DKl27
86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal LSD0.05
Crude protein (%) 2011 2012 18.7 13.9 17.9 13.9 18.6 15.7 18.9 14.0 18.3 16.1 19.7 16.7 18.7 14.1 18.6 16.4 18.4 14.9 18.0 10.3 19.5 11.6 19.7 13.2 18.5 15.1 17.2 13.7 18.3 12.9 18.6 12.9 18.6 13.8 19.2 11.2 19.6 12.6 17.5 13.3 19.5 13.4 18.7 14.0 18.1 15.9 18.3 13.4 19.5 14.0 17.8 14.3 17.1 14.3 19.2 11.3 3.4
1.7
Crude fiber (%) 2011 2012 29.1 23.2 27.4 24.4 27.4 17.4 26.0 12.9 28.3 17.8 25.7 21.6 25.7 21.8 29.6 17.8 30.0 20.2 30.8 21.0 26.9 26.4 27.4 22.1 27.7 19.5 26.6 21.1 27.2 23.1 28.6 23.2 26.5 20.4 25.8 23.2 28.0 20.3 30.2 18.1 21.1 21.1 23.8 23.5 26.0 18.9 28.5 25.2 25.0 22.3 30.1 22.5 31.0 20.2 27.6 25.4 4.1
3.9
Relative feed value 2011 2012 121.4 121.6 115.3 128.5 105.5 140.3 108.2 130.7 100.1 141.2 120.0 130.9 116.2 136.4 103.4 133.2 88.9 128.2 115.2 112.9 107.3 112.1 118.3 130.8 121.5 128.8 115.8 128.9 106.4 116.5 108.5 130.1 108.6 142.4 111.7 122.3 107.4 127.0 101.6 125.7 135.6 116.0 108.9 113.9 108.3 134.6 107.5 124.6 115.0 119.3 101.7 128.5 98.0 123.5 110.2 123.6 12.2
19.0
(Mao 2006; Wang 2011). In the present study, the four foreign cultivars with the highest DMY were L2750, Horn, 86-266 and German, which hadn’t been test in the past reports. These results provided the new guide for the forage producers in North China. © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Table 6 Correlation analysis for three quality traits across 28 cultivars in 2011 and 2012 (n=28)1) Index Cp CF RFV 1)
Cp 1.00
2011 CF -0.63** 1.00
RFV 0.51** -0.62** 1.00
Cp 1.00
2012 CF -0.50** 1.00
RFV 0.62** -0.52** 1.00
CP, crude protein content; CF, crude fiber; RFV, relative feed value.
It is important to determine the fluctuation of annual DMY and stand longevity for alfalfa hay production. In some researches, American alfalfa cultivars have been reported to have better growth performance than Zhongmu 1 in such characteristics as dry matter herbage yield, seed quality, and general performance in Henan Province after one or two years (Wang et al. 2002; Tian et al. 2003). And some studies testing the DMY over years indicated that alfalfa exhibited high DMY at its third and fourth years (Luo et al. 2001; Cao 2002). But in this study the cultivar Zhongmu 1 was one of the five highest DMY cultivars. The comparisons among 28 cultivars were variable and the significant differences were detected in annual DMY among four harvesting years when no irrigation and fertilization were applied. All cultivars produced the highest annual DMY in the second harvest year. This was probably due to the different climate conditions during four consecutive years and confirmed that the performance of alfalfa cultivars should be evaluated based on the multiple years test. Previous research reported significant differences in dry matter yield of alfalfa among different harvest times (Llovera and Ferran 1998). In this study, 28 cultivars were harvested by mowing four times a year in four consecutive years. Averaged across four years, the DMY of first harvest were consistently the highest among four harvests except Bunbulun, accounting for 34.7% of the mean annual DMY; the second, for 30.3%; the third, for 19.5%; the fourth, for 15.5%. These findings are in accordance with other studies, which suggest that the DMY of first harvest forms about 40% of annual DMY, and the DMY of each harvest decreases from the first to third or fourth harvest (Hoy et al. 2002; Yang et al. 2005; Lu and Yu 2006). So selections based on the DMY in the first harvest will help to select plants or populations with high annual DMY in alfalfa breeding and introduction (Zang et al. 2005). Autumn dormancy of alfalfa is an important growth trait, which is related to herbage yield, winter hardiness,
spring growth and stand persistence (Schwab et al. 1996; Cunningham et al. 1998; Johnson et al. 1998). Alfalfa could be divided into three types, autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 1-3), weak-autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 4-6), and non-autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 7-9) (Barnes et al. 1978). Some researchers have showed that non-autumn dormant alfalfa varieties could produce more herbage in autumn, resume shoot growth earlier in spring, and initiate shoot regrowth quickly after harvest in summer. In this study, the cultivar Rambler belongs to the extreme autumn dormant group and its DMY of second harvest was higher than the first harvest. On the other hand, other 27 cultivars obtained the highest DMY in the first harvest. This was probably because Rambler resumed shoot growth much later in spring than other cultivars and resulted in the great decrease in the DMY of first harvest. In addition, the herbage yields in the fourth cutting reflected the autumn dormancy of the different alfalfa cultivars. In this experiment, compared with the third harvest, ratios of the forth harvest of five cultivars with the lowest total DMY decreased more than other 21 cultivars except Caoyuan 2 and Anstar. These cultivars stopped growing earlier because of the reduced temperature and insufficient illumination in autumn, which partly explained for their low annual DMY. Thus, the poor resume growth and autumn dormancy should be the major constraints preventing widespread use of dormant alfalfa in North China and other regions with similar climatic conditions. In recent years, more and more researchers have focused on the difference in the alfalfa qualities of different cultivars although the alfalfa cultivars with high DMY are also recommended for planting (Jiang 2007; Xu 2007). Lin et al. (2004) tested the nutritive components of six alfalfa cultivars at the growing stage of budding, flowering and post-flowering. Their results showed that the nutritive value was the highest during budding to flowering and cultivars Cangzhou and Oueen gave the best comprehensive quality. Jiang et al. (2007) recommended WL232 and LieRenHe to be the first selection of large scale extending in the Zhengzhou district. And Geng et al. (2009) found that the agronomic characters of the domestic varieties were better while the overseas varieties performed better on qualitative characters. In our studies, the qualities of cultivars showed small variations and no cultivars were consistently the top © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
five cultivars with the highest CF and RFV except that the cultivar L3750 presented the highest crude protein in both year. We found that CP had significant negative correlation with CF in both years. This is in accordance with the findings of other researchers (Wang et al. 2010). Furthermore, this study also showed that CP had significant positive correlation with RFV but CF had significant negative correlation with RFV. Thus, the CP and CF could greatly represent the RFV, and alfalfa possessing high CP content and low CF content was considered to have good quality.
CONCLUSION Averaged across the four years, the top five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), Germany (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1). And the qualities showed small variations among 28 cultivars. So these five cultivars are suitable to be recommended for planting in Hebei Province of China. The first harvest had the highest ratios of DMY to annual DMY except the cultivar of Rambler while the fourth harvest had the lowest ratio. There were significant positive correlation relationships between DMY of each harvest and annual DMY and the path coefficients of first harvest were always the highest in four years. Averaged across 28 cultivars crude protein had significant positive correlation with RFV in both years while crude fiber had significant negative correlation with RFV and crude fiber.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Region and site description The field experiment was conducted at the research station of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, located at the Cangzhou, Hebei province, North China (latitude 39°37´N, longitude 98°30´E; elevation 1 480 m) from 2009 to 2012. Soil at the site is Marini-Gleyic Solonchak, classified as Haplaguept in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil classification (Soil Survey Staff 1996). The mean temperature is 11.5°C. The mean rainfall is about 600 mm, over 70% of which falls from June to October. The precipitation and average temperature during the growing seasons (from March to October) are reported as mean monthly data in Table 7.
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Initial chemical characteristics of the soil (0-30 cm) were pH 8.0, organic matter 8.61 g kg-1, total N 1.20 g kg-1, available p 19.9 mg kg-1, and available K 169.5 mg kg-1. Soil pH was measured using a 1:2 soil-to-water ratio (Watson and Brown 1998). Organic matter of soil was estimated using the modified Walkley-Black method of Nelson and Sommers (1982). Total Kjeldahl nitrogen was determined using the standard digestion of Eastin (1978). Available P was determined by sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) extraction and subsequent colorimetric analysis (Olsen et al. 1954). Available K was determined using an ammonium acetate extraction followed by emission spectrometry (Knudsen et al. 1982). The previous crop was corn (Zea mays). The corn residue was plowed and kept fallow for one year before alfalfa establishment. Table 7 Precipitation and average temperature between March and October for 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 at the research location Month Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct
2009 19.0 47.6 38.1 157.1 135.7 234.5 76.2 25.7
precipitation (mm) 2010 2011 2012 11.9 0.0 4.5 19.0 11.7 53.4 44.0 56.0 42.1 40.5 52.2 90.9 144.8 155.2 220.8 199.2 172.1 144.1 52.3 48.5 33.8 14.3 22.4 26.5
Average temperature (°C) 2009 2010 2011 2012 7.0 4.5 7.7 5.6 15.3 11.3 14.4 15.4 21.5 24.7 20.3 22.8 26.0 24.9 26.3 25.3 26.7 28.4 27.4 26.0 25.5 25.2 25.4 24.7 21.0 21.9 20.9 20.8 16.2 14.9 14.2 14.5
Experimental design The experiment used a randomised complete block design with three replications. 28 alfalfa cultivars were list in Table 8. The trial was sown in March of 2009. Individual plot size was 2.5 m by 6 m. The trial was drilled at a seeding rate of 15 kg ha-1, a seeding depth of 2 cm and a between-row spacing of 30 cm, with 1 m spacing between adjacent plots. In each year, no irrigation or fertilizer was applied, and weeds were controlled with hand hoeing as needed.
Data collection Plots was harvested at 25% flowering (between early flowering and full flowering stage), four times each year from 2010 to 2012. In the establishment year, forage was harvested three times determined by the temperature and photoperiod. Table 9 presents each harvesting date for the four years. At each harvest, fresh weights were determined from a random selected 9.0 m2 sample from each plot harvested by hand and sub-samples (1 kg) were then dried at 60°C to obtain a constant dry weight. The dry matter yield (DMY) was calculated on a dry-weight basis. Annual DMY of each cultivar was the summation of the DMY of four harvests in the same calendar year and mean DMY of each year were the means of annual
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Table 8 Origin of experimented alfalfa cultivars and their grade on the fall dormancy scale No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Cultivars 86-266 Acgruzelomd Alble Baralfa54 L2750 L3750 Queen Sitel WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal
Origin America America America America America America America France America Europe China Japan China America China America America Japan America America America America America America China China China America
Fall dormancy 4 2 2 2 4 3 4 5 4 5 1 1 1 3 1 3 3 2 3 3 1 8 3 4 2 2 2 2
Table 9 Dates of harvesting in four years Year 2009 2010 2011 2012
Harvest 1 11 Jul. 31 May 24 May 25 May
Harvest 2 15 Aug. 2 Jul. 28 Jun. 1 Jul.
Harvest 3 29 Sept. 15 Aug. 10 Aug. 10 Aug.
Harvest 4 8 Oct. 9 Oct. 9 Oct.
DMY of 28 cultivars. And mean DMY of each harvest were the means of corresponding harvests in different years. plant height were determined by taking measurements on 30 stems selected randomly in each plot and annual plant height of each cultivar was the summation of the plant height of four or three harvests in the same calendar year. During the first harvest in 2010 and 2011, sub-samples (1 kg) were dried in the oven for 72 h at 65°C (Vasilakogloua and Dhimab 2008), then ground with a Wiley mill to pass a 1-mm screen and analyzed for quality components. Total nitrogen was determined using a Foss Kjeltec 2300 analyzer unit according to the user manual. The crude protein content (in percent) on a dry weight basis in a sample was calculated by multiplying total nitrogen by the conversion factor 6.25. Crude fiber (CF) was tested using the official standard procedure (GB/T5009.10-2003). Neutral detergent fibre content (NDF) and acid detergent fiber content (ADF) was determined using the procedure by Goering and van Soest (1970), and the relative feed value (RFV=(120/NDF×(88.9-0.779×ADF))/1.29) were
calculated (Chen et al. 2007).
Statistical analysis Mean separations for 28 cultivars and four harvests were performed using Fisher’s protected LSD test at a P≤0.05 significance level. Pearson correlation analysis and path analysis among DMY of each harvest and annual DMY were investigated in the same year. And path analysis was used to measure the relative importance of the each harvest in determining the annual DMY. The relationships among three quality indices (CP, CF and RFV) were determined by correlation analysis across cultivar treatments (n=28). These analysis procedures were performed using the MIXED procedure of the SPSS statistical software package (SPSS 2000).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Earmarked Fund for the Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System, China (CARS-35).
References
Barnes D K, Smith D M, Stucker R E, Elling L J 1978. Fall dormancy in alfalfa: A valuable prediction tool. In: Barnes D K, ed., Proceedings of the 26th North America Alfalfa Improvement Conference. South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota. p. 34. Cao Z Z. 2002. Cultivation and Utilization of High Quality Alfalfa. China Agriculture press, Beijing, China. (in Chinese) Chen R Y, Tang Q L, Rong T Z, Ren Y, Feng Y C. 2007. Effects of clipping style on forage yield and quality of forage maize SAUMZ1. Journal of Sichuan Agricultural University, 25, 244-248. (in Chinese) Cunningham S M, Volenec J J, Teuber L R 1998. plant survival and root and bud composition of alfalfa population selected for contrasting fall dormancy. Crop Science, 38, 962-969. Eastin E F. 1978. Total nitrogen determination for plant material containing nitrate. Analytical Biochemistry, 85, 591-594. Geng H, Xu A K, Liu Z, Jin C H, pang J G, Wang Z F. 2009. Characters analysis and evaluation on domestic and overseas alfalfa varieties. Journal of Anhui Agricultural Science, 37, 16289-16291. (in Chinese) Goerin H K, van Soest P J. 1970. Forage fiber analyses. In: Apparatus, Reagents, Procedures and Some Applications. Agricultural Handbook. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Hoy M D, Moore K J, George J R, Brummer E C. 2002. Alfalfa yield and quality as influenced by establishment method. Agronomy Journal, 94, 65-71.
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Iannucci A, di Fonzo N, Martiniello P. 2002. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seed yield and quality under different forage management systems and irrigation treatments in a Mediterranean environment. Field Crops Research, 78, 65-74. Jiang Y B, Yang, Y R, Wang C Z, Chen W. 2007. Study of the selection and introduction of different alfalfa varieties. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 1, 22-25. (in Chinese) Johnson L D, Marquez-Ortiz J J, Lamb J F S, Barnes D K 1998. Root morphology of alfalfa plant introductions and cultivars. Crop Science, 38, 497-502. Knudsen D, peterson G A, pratt p F. 1982. Lithium, sodium, and potassium. In: Page A L, ed., Methods of Soil Analysis: Part 2. 2nd ed. SSSA Book Ser. 5. SSSA, Madison, WI. pp. 225-246. Lin C G, Yan X D, Zhai Y Z. 2004. The quality analysis of six alfalfa cultivars. Pratacultural Science, 21, 22-25. (in Chinese) Llovera J, Ferran J. 1998. Harvest management effects on alfalfa production and quality in mediterrancan areas. Grass and Forage Science, 53, 88-92. Lu W H, Yu L. 2006. Study on growth rule and yield of different alfalfa cultivars in Xinjiang Oasis. Xinjiang Agricultural Sciences, 43, 16-20. (in Chinese) Luo X Y, Li H, Wang F G. 2001. Analysis of correlation and path on alfalfa yield with different environments and years. In: Paper Collection of International Conference on Grassland Science and Industry. prospects of Grassland Science and Industry for the 21st Century, China. pp. 351-354. Mao P C, Meng L, Zhang G F, Li C L. 2006. Study on the productive performance of multifoliar alfalfa in Beijing. Ratacultural Science, 23, 19-22. Nelson D W, Sommers L E. 1982. Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Page A L, ed., Methods of Soil Analysis: Part 2. 2nd ed. SSSA Book Ser. 5. SSSA, Madison, WI. pp. 539-579. Olsen S R, Cole C V, Watanabe F S, Dean L A. 1954. Estimation of available phosphorous in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. United States Department of Agriculture Circular 939. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Schwab P M, Barnes D K, Sheaffer C C 1996. The relation-ship between field winter injury and fall growth score for 251 alfalfa cultivars. Crop Science, 36, 418-426. Soil Survey Staff. 1996. Keys to Soil Taxonomy. 7th ed, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. SPSS. 2000. SPSS. Version 10. SPSS, Chicago, IL.
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Tian W, Yang Y X, Xu F. 2003. Study on introduction and selection of alfalfa varieties. Journal of Henan Agricultural University, 37, 90-93. (in Chinese) Vasilakogloua I, Dhimab K. 2008. Forage yield and competition indices of Berseem clover intercropped with Barley. Agronomy Journal, 100, 1749-1756. Wang C Z, Ma B L, Yan X B, Han J F, Guo Y X, Wang Y H, Li P. 2009. Yields of alfalfa varieties with different falldormancy levels in a temperate environment. Agronomy Journal, 101, 1146-1152. Wang C Z, Xu X Y, Yang Y X. 2002. Study on the introduction of different alfalfa varieties. Journal of Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, 30, 29-31. (in Chinese) Wang J Q. 2011. Comparative study on productive adaptability of 11 introduced new varieties of Medicago sativa L. from foreign countries. Hunan Agricultural Sciences, 15, 18-20. (in Chinese) Wang X G. 2005. Effects of density manipulation, cutting, fertilizer, and growth regulator application on the characteristics related to alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seed yield and quality. PhD thesis, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. (in Chinese) Wang Y D, Liu Z X, Su A L. 2012. Comparatively analysis the production performance of different dormant alfalfa. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 28, 17-22. (in Chinese) Wang Y H, Yu C L, Gao Y G, Zhao H X, Li L, Qi S J, Geng C M, Wang L. 2010. Study on nutritional quality and correlation of different alfalfa varieties. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 26, 11-15. (in Chinese) Watson M E, Brown J R. 1998. pH and lime requirement. In: Brown J R, ed., Recommended Chemical Soil Test Procedures for the North Central Region. NCR publ. 221 (revised). Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, Columbia. pp. 13-16. Xu Y P, Zhao Z X, Wang X L, Yan X D. 2007. Analyses on agronomic characters and quality of alfalfa. Journal of Hebei Agricultural Sciences, 11, 9-11. (in Chinese) Yang C, Wang M L. 2011. The production of alfalfa and development of milk industry in China. Chinese Journal of Animal Science, 47, 14-21. Yang Q J, Zhou H, Sun Y. 2005. Study on dry yield and protein of alfalfas in Beijing. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 21, 50-52. (in Chinese) Zang W M, Wang C Z, Yang Y X. 2005. Production performance of different lucerne varieties in China. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 48, 481-488. (Managing editor ZHANG Juan)
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October 2014
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China ZHANG Tie-jun1, KANG Jun-mei1, GUO Wen-shan1, ZHAO Zhong-xiang2, XU Yu-peng2, YAN Xudong2 and YANG Qing-chuan1 1 2
Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R.China Cangzhou Technical College, Cangzhou 061001, P.R.China
Abstract Cultivar selection is important for alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay production. From 2009 to 2012, a field study was conducted to evaluate the dry matter yield (DMY) of 28 cultivars in Cangzhou District of Hebei province, China, and to determine the most suitable cultivars for this province and other zones with similar climate conditions. 28 alfalfa cultivars were sown in late March of 2009 and were harvested for hay four times in each subsequent year. The results showed that the climatic conditions resulted in significant differences in annual DMY among years, with the second year being the highest and the first year the lowest. The top five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), German (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1), respectively. Across all four years, first harvest had the highest ratios to annual DMY except the cultivar of Rambler, while the fourth harvest had the lowest ratio. There were positive correlation relationships between DMY of each harvest and annual DMY, and the correlation coefficients were all significant in four years. And the path coefficients of first harvest were always the highest in four years. The qualities showed small variations among these cultivars and the cultivar L3750 presented the highest crude protein in both years. Crude protein had significant positive correlation with relative feed value (RFV) in both years while crude fiber had significant negative correlation with RFV and crude fiber. Key words: alfalfa, cultivars, yield, forage quality
INTRODUCTION Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a very important legume forage and has a wide distribution plant in China and all over the world (Iannucci et al. 2002). In recent years, the expanding intensive livestock systems have resulted in a large demand for forage in China. However, grassland sown to alfalfa was only about 2.6×106 ha and produced 3.0×105 t hay products, far lower than the actual demand, and this has led to a sharp increase in the hay import and
price of alfalfa forage (Yang and Wang 2011). A program titled Returning Degraded Land or Marginal Land to Forest or Grass, similar to the Conservation Reserve Program in USA, was initiated across China in 1999 to conserve soil and water resources in areas prone to erosion (Wang 2005). Alfalfa was widely cultivated as a soil cover or as windbreaks in arid and semi-arid areas of northern China. And from 2012 to 2016 the Ministry of Agriculture of the people’s Republic of China spend 525 millions CNY each year to encourage the standard production of alfalfa hay. Thus, the area devoted to forage production of alfalfa has increased steadily in last
Received 9 June, 2013 Accepted 22 July, 2013 ZHANG Tie-jun, Tel: +86-10-62816357-601, Mobile: 18911629095, E-mail: [email protected]; Correspondence YANG Qing-chuan, Tel/Fax: +86-10-62735996, E-mail: [email protected]
© 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/S2095-3119(13)60576-6
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
RESULTS Statistical probabilities of the F test for year, cultivar and their interactions for dry matter yield (DMY) and annual plant height are summarized in Table 1. There were significant year×cultivar interactions for annual DMY and annual plant height, indicating the variable performance of different cultivars among years.
Dry matter yield During the last three years, the climatic conditions including the mean temperature and precipitation were quite variable, resulting in significant DMY differences among years (Fig.). The highest annual DMY were
Table 1 Statistical probabilities of F test for year, cultivar and their interactions on annual dry matter yield and annual plant height Source
df
Year (Y) Cultivar (C) Y×C
3 27 81
**
Annual dry matter yield (F values) 743.8** 31.6** 2.5**
df 3 27 81
Annual plant height (F values) 2 441.0** 19.6** 1.5**
, significant at P=0.01; *, significance at P=0.05. The same as below.
20 Annual dry matter yield (t ha-1)
years, which has stimulated researches in the factors that limit alfalfa forage production. The cultivar selections are important for hay production of alfalfa. The increase of yield owns about 30% to the cultivar and unsuitable cultivar probably results in the decrease of yield especially the failure of establishment (Wang et al. 2009). Some field experiments have been conducted to test the performance of alfalfa cultivars in North China and suggested the suitable cultivars such as WL324, Forerunner and DKl27 (Mao 2006; Wang 2011). However, most research last for two or three years and the relative feed value (RFV) of these cultivars were not test. With the expansion of alfalfa planting area, the import of alfalfa seed has increased twice from 2010 to 2012 and many new alfalfa cultivars have been introduced into China (Wang et al. 2012), most of which have not been test on their performance before popularizing in North China. Thus, little information is available on the forage yield and the resistance of these cultivars to disease and insects in the local climate and soil condition, which limited the forage production of alfalfa. Huanghuaihai plain, including southern and central parts of Hebei province, is one of the largest alfalfa production area in China. In this study, 28 alfalfa cultivars were tested over four consecutive years. The main objective was to determine the adaptability of these alfalfa cultivars and select the best ones for forage production in this area. The second objective was to provide information for alfalfa breeding in this area.
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a
18 16
b
b
2011
2012
14 12 10
c
8 6 4 2 0
2009
2010
Fig. Mean annual yield (t ha-1) of different years. Different letters indicate a significant difference at P<0.05.
obtained in 2010 for all cultivars. Total annual DMY of each cultivar were quite variable, ranging from 22.07 to 62.75 t ha-1 (Table 2). The five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), German (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1), respectively; these cultivars were not significantly different (P<0.05). The three cultivars with the lowest total annual DMY were Rambler (22.07 t ha-1), Emperor (41.01 t ha-1) and Kitawakaba (44.11 t ha-1), and Rambler were significantly lower than other 27 cultivars.
DMY and ratios of each harvest Averaged across four years, there were significant differences in mean DMY of each harvest (Table 3) (P<0.05). For 27 cultivars except Rambler, first harvest resulted in the highest DMY and fourth harvest, the lowest, and there was a decreasing trend in DMY from first to fourth harvest. The top five cultivars with the highest DMY of first harvest were Zhongmu 1 (5.83 t ha-1), German (5.61 t ha-1), Horn (5.57 t ha-1), L2750 (5.52 t ha-1) and 86-266 (5.50 t ha-1), which were the same as those with the highest total annual DMY. Similarly, the cultivars with the lowest total annual DMY also had the lowest © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Table 2 Annual dry matter yield (t ha-1) of 28 alfalfa cultivars in the different years Cultivars 86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal LSD 0.05
2009 8.79 8.37 6.86 8.61 9.08 8.35 8.09 8.22 7.87 9.44 8.37 6.78 8.57 8.97 8.71 8.82 9.20 7.91 9.08 6.20 5.61 8.39 7.90 7.84 7.73 8.86 8.70 7.99 1.51
2010 19.33 16.54 16.97 18.52 20.83 18.34 19.65 16.94 18.07 19.43 17.36 15.14 16.51 18.67 17.98 19.81 20.10 16.43 18.25 13.22 10.76 15.04 17.66 18.41 16.73 19.19 16.81 14.83 2.09
2011 16.86 12.38 14.51 15.51 16.69 14.29 15.17 14.01 14.39 16.32 16.38 11.61 13.64 15.54 16.67 16.72 17.44 13.53 15.03 11.21 2.47 13.84 13.51 16.87 13.94 16.73 16.64 10.87 2.13
2012 16.57 12.28 14.69 14.18 16.15 14.14 14.44 13.76 14.39 16.24 16.32 10.59 13.80 15.86 15.93 15.01 15.99 13.49 13.96 10.38 3.24 13.53 13.79 16.25 14.54 16.41 15.77 11.54 2.60
Total 61.55 49.57 53.03 56.82 62.75 55.12 57.35 52.93 54.71 61.44 58.43 44.11 52.52 59.05 59.29 60.36 62.72 51.36 56.32 41.01 22.07 50.80 52.85 59.37 52.93 61.18 57.92 45.23 6.00
Order 3 24 17 13 1 15 12 19 16 4 10 26 21 9 8 6 2 22 14 27 28 23 20 7 18 5 11 25
Significant ab fgh cdefg abcdef a bcdef abcde cdef bcdef ab abcd hi cdefg abc abc ab a edfg abcdef i j efg cdefg abc cdefg ab abcde ghi
Within a column, data followed by the same small letters are not significantly different according to LSD at P=0.05. The same as below.
Table 3 The mean DMY and ratios of mean yield of each harvest to annual dry matter yield of different alfalfa cultivars Cultivars 86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal Mean
First harvest 5.50 4.40 4.63 5.09 5.52 4.74 5.22 4.77 4.92 5.61 5.49 3.91 4.88 5.23 5.48 5.42 5.57 4.47 5.50 3.53 1.87 4.99 4.46 5.31 4.87 5.83 5.29 4.38 4.89
Mean DMY of each harvest Second harvest Third harvest 4.91 2.96 4.07 2.68 4.11 2.64 4.36 2.81 5.12 3.07 4.41 2.83 4.72 2.60 4.11 2.68 4.41 2.58 4.75 3.16 4.19 2.97 3.60 2.29 4.05 2.85 4.93 2.80 4.40 3.16 4.92 2.82 4.89 3.05 4.02 2.67 4.41 2.57 3.24 2.20 2.27 1.15 3.46 2.69 4.30 2.70 4.64 2.98 3.75 2.92 4.52 3.10 4.51 2.81 3.33 2.62 4.23 2.73
Fourth harvest 2.69 1.68 2.50 2.60 2.64 2.40 2.40 2.24 2.36 2.45 2.61 1.65 1.80 2.39 2.37 2.57 2.89 2.24 2.13 1.72 0.31 2.07 2.32 2.55 2.27 2.47 2.50 1.29 2.22
First harvest 34.3 34.2 33.3 34.3 33.8 32.9 35.0 34.6 34.3 35.1 36.0 34.2 35.9 34.0 35.5 34.5 33.9 33.4 37.7 33.0 33.5 37.8 32.4 34.2 35.2 36.5 35.0 37.6 34.7
Ratios of each harvest Second harvest Third harvest 30.6 18.4 31.7 21.0 29.7 19.0 29.4 18.8 31.3 18.8 30.7 19.8 31.5 17.4 29.8 19.4 31.1 18.1 29.8 19.8 27.5 19.5 31.5 20.0 29.9 21.0 32.2 18.2 28.6 20.5 31.2 18.0 29.8 18.7 30.0 19.9 30.2 17.5 30.4 20.7 40.5 20.4 26.1 20.5 31.2 19.6 30.0 19.3 27.1 21.1 28.5 19.4 29.9 18.6 28.8 22.5 30.3 19.5
Fourth harvest 16.7 13.1 18.0 17.5 16.1 16.7 16.1 16.2 16.6 15.4 17.1 14.3 13.2 15.6 15.5 16.3 17.6 16.7 14.6 15.9 5.5 15.6 16.8 16.5 16.5 15.6 16.5 11.1 15.5
© 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
values of first harvest. In addition, the ratios of each harvest decreased significantly from first to fourth harvest except Rambler whose second harvest obtained the highest ratio. There was a positive relationship between DMY of each harvest (H1, H2, H3, H4) and annual DMY during four years. And the correlation coefficients were very
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significant (P<0.01), except in 2010, H3 were significantly (P<0.05) correlated with annual DMY (Table 4). Path analysis showed that H1 had the highest direct effect on annual DMY in the later three years, the coefficients are 0.51, 0.38 and 0.42, respectively, while H4 was the lowest. Thus, H1 was the most important component describing annual DMY among four harvests and H4 was the least.
Table 4 Correlation analysis and path analysis for dry matter yield of each harvest (n=30) 2009 Harvest1) H1 H2 H3 H4 1)
Anuual dry matter yield 0.77** 0.89** 0.85**
2010 path coefficient 0.33 0.48 0.38
Anuual dry matter yield 0.83** 0.81** 0.23* 0.73**
2011 path coefficient 0.51 0.42 0.22 0.25
Anuual dry matter yield 0.93** 0.89** 0.83** 0.87**
path coefficient 0.38 0.27 0.24 0.23
2012 Anuual dry path matter yield coefficient 0.91** 0.42 0.87** 0.30 0.85** 0.22 0.83** 0.21
H1, first harvest; H2, second harvest; H3, third harvest; H4, fourth harvest.
Forage quality
Table 5 The quality test of first harvest of 28 alfalfa cultivars in 2010 and 2011 Cultivars
In 2011 and 2012, crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF) and RFV of 28 cultivars of first harvest were test. The climatic conditions greatly affected the Cp and CF, and on the whole, CP and CF in 2011 were higher than those in 2012 among 28 cultivars (Table 5). However, there were small variation in the comparisons among these cultivars and no cultivar was consistently the top five cultivars with the highest or lowest CF and RFV, except that the cultivar L3750 presented the highest CP in both years. There were positive correlations between CP and RFV in 2011 and 2012, and the correlation coefficients were significant across the 28 cultivars (Table 6). On the other hand, correlation analysis revealed the significant negative correlations between CF and CP in both years, and the CF was significantly negative correlated with RFV.
DISCUSSION High herbage yield is the major goal in forage production and the increase of yield owns about 30% to the cultivar (Wang et al. 2009). And alfalfa is perennial thus the cultivar selection is the first step for hay production. With the planting area of alfalfa increasing, many field experiments were conducted to test the performance of alfalfa cultivars in North China and suggested the suitable cultivars such as WL324, Forerunner, DKl27
86-266 ACGruzelomd ALBLE BARALFA54 L2750 L3750 Queen SITEL WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal LSD0.05
Crude protein (%) 2011 2012 18.7 13.9 17.9 13.9 18.6 15.7 18.9 14.0 18.3 16.1 19.7 16.7 18.7 14.1 18.6 16.4 18.4 14.9 18.0 10.3 19.5 11.6 19.7 13.2 18.5 15.1 17.2 13.7 18.3 12.9 18.6 12.9 18.6 13.8 19.2 11.2 19.6 12.6 17.5 13.3 19.5 13.4 18.7 14.0 18.1 15.9 18.3 13.4 19.5 14.0 17.8 14.3 17.1 14.3 19.2 11.3 3.4
1.7
Crude fiber (%) 2011 2012 29.1 23.2 27.4 24.4 27.4 17.4 26.0 12.9 28.3 17.8 25.7 21.6 25.7 21.8 29.6 17.8 30.0 20.2 30.8 21.0 26.9 26.4 27.4 22.1 27.7 19.5 26.6 21.1 27.2 23.1 28.6 23.2 26.5 20.4 25.8 23.2 28.0 20.3 30.2 18.1 21.1 21.1 23.8 23.5 26.0 18.9 28.5 25.2 25.0 22.3 30.1 22.5 31.0 20.2 27.6 25.4 4.1
3.9
Relative feed value 2011 2012 121.4 121.6 115.3 128.5 105.5 140.3 108.2 130.7 100.1 141.2 120.0 130.9 116.2 136.4 103.4 133.2 88.9 128.2 115.2 112.9 107.3 112.1 118.3 130.8 121.5 128.8 115.8 128.9 106.4 116.5 108.5 130.1 108.6 142.4 111.7 122.3 107.4 127.0 101.6 125.7 135.6 116.0 108.9 113.9 108.3 134.6 107.5 124.6 115.0 119.3 101.7 128.5 98.0 123.5 110.2 123.6 12.2
19.0
(Mao 2006; Wang 2011). In the present study, the four foreign cultivars with the highest DMY were L2750, Horn, 86-266 and German, which hadn’t been test in the past reports. These results provided the new guide for the forage producers in North China. © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Table 6 Correlation analysis for three quality traits across 28 cultivars in 2011 and 2012 (n=28)1) Index Cp CF RFV 1)
Cp 1.00
2011 CF -0.63** 1.00
RFV 0.51** -0.62** 1.00
Cp 1.00
2012 CF -0.50** 1.00
RFV 0.62** -0.52** 1.00
CP, crude protein content; CF, crude fiber; RFV, relative feed value.
It is important to determine the fluctuation of annual DMY and stand longevity for alfalfa hay production. In some researches, American alfalfa cultivars have been reported to have better growth performance than Zhongmu 1 in such characteristics as dry matter herbage yield, seed quality, and general performance in Henan Province after one or two years (Wang et al. 2002; Tian et al. 2003). And some studies testing the DMY over years indicated that alfalfa exhibited high DMY at its third and fourth years (Luo et al. 2001; Cao 2002). But in this study the cultivar Zhongmu 1 was one of the five highest DMY cultivars. The comparisons among 28 cultivars were variable and the significant differences were detected in annual DMY among four harvesting years when no irrigation and fertilization were applied. All cultivars produced the highest annual DMY in the second harvest year. This was probably due to the different climate conditions during four consecutive years and confirmed that the performance of alfalfa cultivars should be evaluated based on the multiple years test. Previous research reported significant differences in dry matter yield of alfalfa among different harvest times (Llovera and Ferran 1998). In this study, 28 cultivars were harvested by mowing four times a year in four consecutive years. Averaged across four years, the DMY of first harvest were consistently the highest among four harvests except Bunbulun, accounting for 34.7% of the mean annual DMY; the second, for 30.3%; the third, for 19.5%; the fourth, for 15.5%. These findings are in accordance with other studies, which suggest that the DMY of first harvest forms about 40% of annual DMY, and the DMY of each harvest decreases from the first to third or fourth harvest (Hoy et al. 2002; Yang et al. 2005; Lu and Yu 2006). So selections based on the DMY in the first harvest will help to select plants or populations with high annual DMY in alfalfa breeding and introduction (Zang et al. 2005). Autumn dormancy of alfalfa is an important growth trait, which is related to herbage yield, winter hardiness,
spring growth and stand persistence (Schwab et al. 1996; Cunningham et al. 1998; Johnson et al. 1998). Alfalfa could be divided into three types, autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 1-3), weak-autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 4-6), and non-autumn dormant alfalfa (Classes 7-9) (Barnes et al. 1978). Some researchers have showed that non-autumn dormant alfalfa varieties could produce more herbage in autumn, resume shoot growth earlier in spring, and initiate shoot regrowth quickly after harvest in summer. In this study, the cultivar Rambler belongs to the extreme autumn dormant group and its DMY of second harvest was higher than the first harvest. On the other hand, other 27 cultivars obtained the highest DMY in the first harvest. This was probably because Rambler resumed shoot growth much later in spring than other cultivars and resulted in the great decrease in the DMY of first harvest. In addition, the herbage yields in the fourth cutting reflected the autumn dormancy of the different alfalfa cultivars. In this experiment, compared with the third harvest, ratios of the forth harvest of five cultivars with the lowest total DMY decreased more than other 21 cultivars except Caoyuan 2 and Anstar. These cultivars stopped growing earlier because of the reduced temperature and insufficient illumination in autumn, which partly explained for their low annual DMY. Thus, the poor resume growth and autumn dormancy should be the major constraints preventing widespread use of dormant alfalfa in North China and other regions with similar climatic conditions. In recent years, more and more researchers have focused on the difference in the alfalfa qualities of different cultivars although the alfalfa cultivars with high DMY are also recommended for planting (Jiang 2007; Xu 2007). Lin et al. (2004) tested the nutritive components of six alfalfa cultivars at the growing stage of budding, flowering and post-flowering. Their results showed that the nutritive value was the highest during budding to flowering and cultivars Cangzhou and Oueen gave the best comprehensive quality. Jiang et al. (2007) recommended WL232 and LieRenHe to be the first selection of large scale extending in the Zhengzhou district. And Geng et al. (2009) found that the agronomic characters of the domestic varieties were better while the overseas varieties performed better on qualitative characters. In our studies, the qualities of cultivars showed small variations and no cultivars were consistently the top © 2014, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Yield Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Alfalfa Cultivars in Hebei Province of China
five cultivars with the highest CF and RFV except that the cultivar L3750 presented the highest crude protein in both year. We found that CP had significant negative correlation with CF in both years. This is in accordance with the findings of other researchers (Wang et al. 2010). Furthermore, this study also showed that CP had significant positive correlation with RFV but CF had significant negative correlation with RFV. Thus, the CP and CF could greatly represent the RFV, and alfalfa possessing high CP content and low CF content was considered to have good quality.
CONCLUSION Averaged across the four years, the top five cultivars with the highest total DMY were L2750 (62.75 t ha-1), Horn (62.72 t ha-1), 86-266 (61.55 t ha-1), Germany (61.44 t ha-1) and Zhongmu 1 (61.18 t ha-1). And the qualities showed small variations among 28 cultivars. So these five cultivars are suitable to be recommended for planting in Hebei Province of China. The first harvest had the highest ratios of DMY to annual DMY except the cultivar of Rambler while the fourth harvest had the lowest ratio. There were significant positive correlation relationships between DMY of each harvest and annual DMY and the path coefficients of first harvest were always the highest in four years. Averaged across 28 cultivars crude protein had significant positive correlation with RFV in both years while crude fiber had significant negative correlation with RFV and crude fiber.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Region and site description The field experiment was conducted at the research station of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, located at the Cangzhou, Hebei province, North China (latitude 39°37´N, longitude 98°30´E; elevation 1 480 m) from 2009 to 2012. Soil at the site is Marini-Gleyic Solonchak, classified as Haplaguept in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil classification (Soil Survey Staff 1996). The mean temperature is 11.5°C. The mean rainfall is about 600 mm, over 70% of which falls from June to October. The precipitation and average temperature during the growing seasons (from March to October) are reported as mean monthly data in Table 7.
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Initial chemical characteristics of the soil (0-30 cm) were pH 8.0, organic matter 8.61 g kg-1, total N 1.20 g kg-1, available p 19.9 mg kg-1, and available K 169.5 mg kg-1. Soil pH was measured using a 1:2 soil-to-water ratio (Watson and Brown 1998). Organic matter of soil was estimated using the modified Walkley-Black method of Nelson and Sommers (1982). Total Kjeldahl nitrogen was determined using the standard digestion of Eastin (1978). Available P was determined by sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) extraction and subsequent colorimetric analysis (Olsen et al. 1954). Available K was determined using an ammonium acetate extraction followed by emission spectrometry (Knudsen et al. 1982). The previous crop was corn (Zea mays). The corn residue was plowed and kept fallow for one year before alfalfa establishment. Table 7 Precipitation and average temperature between March and October for 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 at the research location Month Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct
2009 19.0 47.6 38.1 157.1 135.7 234.5 76.2 25.7
precipitation (mm) 2010 2011 2012 11.9 0.0 4.5 19.0 11.7 53.4 44.0 56.0 42.1 40.5 52.2 90.9 144.8 155.2 220.8 199.2 172.1 144.1 52.3 48.5 33.8 14.3 22.4 26.5
Average temperature (°C) 2009 2010 2011 2012 7.0 4.5 7.7 5.6 15.3 11.3 14.4 15.4 21.5 24.7 20.3 22.8 26.0 24.9 26.3 25.3 26.7 28.4 27.4 26.0 25.5 25.2 25.4 24.7 21.0 21.9 20.9 20.8 16.2 14.9 14.2 14.5
Experimental design The experiment used a randomised complete block design with three replications. 28 alfalfa cultivars were list in Table 8. The trial was sown in March of 2009. Individual plot size was 2.5 m by 6 m. The trial was drilled at a seeding rate of 15 kg ha-1, a seeding depth of 2 cm and a between-row spacing of 30 cm, with 1 m spacing between adjacent plots. In each year, no irrigation or fertilizer was applied, and weeds were controlled with hand hoeing as needed.
Data collection Plots was harvested at 25% flowering (between early flowering and full flowering stage), four times each year from 2010 to 2012. In the establishment year, forage was harvested three times determined by the temperature and photoperiod. Table 9 presents each harvesting date for the four years. At each harvest, fresh weights were determined from a random selected 9.0 m2 sample from each plot harvested by hand and sub-samples (1 kg) were then dried at 60°C to obtain a constant dry weight. The dry matter yield (DMY) was calculated on a dry-weight basis. Annual DMY of each cultivar was the summation of the DMY of four harvests in the same calendar year and mean DMY of each year were the means of annual
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ZHANG Tie-jun et al.
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Table 8 Origin of experimented alfalfa cultivars and their grade on the fall dormancy scale No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Cultivars 86-266 Acgruzelomd Alble Baralfa54 L2750 L3750 Queen Sitel WL323 German Baoding Kitawakaba Caoyuan 2 Innovator Gongnong 1 Hiphy Horn Natsuwakaba Leafking Emperor Rambler Anstar Head Friendship Zhaodong Zhongmu 1 Zhongmu 2 Vernal
Origin America America America America America America America France America Europe China Japan China America China America America Japan America America America America America America China China China America
Fall dormancy 4 2 2 2 4 3 4 5 4 5 1 1 1 3 1 3 3 2 3 3 1 8 3 4 2 2 2 2
Table 9 Dates of harvesting in four years Year 2009 2010 2011 2012
Harvest 1 11 Jul. 31 May 24 May 25 May
Harvest 2 15 Aug. 2 Jul. 28 Jun. 1 Jul.
Harvest 3 29 Sept. 15 Aug. 10 Aug. 10 Aug.
Harvest 4 8 Oct. 9 Oct. 9 Oct.
DMY of 28 cultivars. And mean DMY of each harvest were the means of corresponding harvests in different years. plant height were determined by taking measurements on 30 stems selected randomly in each plot and annual plant height of each cultivar was the summation of the plant height of four or three harvests in the same calendar year. During the first harvest in 2010 and 2011, sub-samples (1 kg) were dried in the oven for 72 h at 65°C (Vasilakogloua and Dhimab 2008), then ground with a Wiley mill to pass a 1-mm screen and analyzed for quality components. Total nitrogen was determined using a Foss Kjeltec 2300 analyzer unit according to the user manual. The crude protein content (in percent) on a dry weight basis in a sample was calculated by multiplying total nitrogen by the conversion factor 6.25. Crude fiber (CF) was tested using the official standard procedure (GB/T5009.10-2003). Neutral detergent fibre content (NDF) and acid detergent fiber content (ADF) was determined using the procedure by Goering and van Soest (1970), and the relative feed value (RFV=(120/NDF×(88.9-0.779×ADF))/1.29) were
calculated (Chen et al. 2007).
Statistical analysis Mean separations for 28 cultivars and four harvests were performed using Fisher’s protected LSD test at a P≤0.05 significance level. Pearson correlation analysis and path analysis among DMY of each harvest and annual DMY were investigated in the same year. And path analysis was used to measure the relative importance of the each harvest in determining the annual DMY. The relationships among three quality indices (CP, CF and RFV) were determined by correlation analysis across cultivar treatments (n=28). These analysis procedures were performed using the MIXED procedure of the SPSS statistical software package (SPSS 2000).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Earmarked Fund for the Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System, China (CARS-35).
References
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