Cultivating alfalfa mixed with timothy: Changes in harvest and nutritive value
2001
Tamm, U. | Tamm, S. | Polluste, A. (Estonian Agricultural Univ., Tartu (Estonia))
The results indicated that the addition of timothy 2 kg ha (-1) resulted in the 80 per cent share of alfalfa in the harvest of the first mowing in case of all used alfalfa varieties. The timothy addition 4kg ha (-1) led to the 70 per cent content of Estonian varieties and 75 per cent content of American varieties in the harvest respectively. The addition of 6 kg ha (-1) this figure was 60 per cent for Estonian varieties and 70 per cent for American varieties. The effect of timothy sowing ratio on the botanical composition was smaller in the harvest of the second and third mowing. The addition of timothy to the seed mixture increased the yield of dry matter by 37 per cent in case of Estonian varieties and by 36 per cent for American varieties. The third harvest of American varieties constituted 20 per cent of total harvest, the Estonian varieties practically lacked the third harvest. The analysis of the chemical composition showed no credible difference between the alfalfa varieties. The increase of the sowing ratio of the timothy reduced the protein and Ca content while not affecting the crude fibre, P and K content. The variation of the sowing ratio of timothy did not influence the dry matter ME content. The varieties Karlu and WL 252 HQ had the first harvest with the higher nutritive value and the variety WL 324 had the lower nutritive value respectively. In order to estimate of the protein value was calculated the PBV. It was positive. The increase of the timothy sowing ratio decreased the PBV and it approached nil in case of 25-30 per cent proportion of timothy in the harvest of the first mowing. The PBV of the harvest of the third mowing was 2-3 times that of previous mowings and the effect of timothy sowing ratio was absent
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