Abstract
Abstract In the United States, blends (seed mixtures) of alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) varieties were planted on approximately 8.75% of the acreage planted to alfalfa in 1969. Combinations of short‐lived highly productive varieties and long‐lived moderately productive varieties are assumed to be more productive than the long‐lived variety in the early years of the stand and to provide enough plants for an adequate stand after the short‐lived plants have died. To test these assumptions, blends containing a mixture of one long‐lived variety, ‘Vernal,’ and two short‐lived varieties, ‘Moapa’ and ‘Stride,’ were seeded at 4.5, 9.0, 13.5, and 18.0 kg/ha in April and August. Hay yields were determined through four harvest seasons. Stand counts were made in the 1st and 4th harvest years following the August planting. Inclusion of Stride, a winter‐hardy, wilt‐susceptible variety, in a blend with Vernal increased yield 1.7 mt/ha in the 1st harvest year over Vernal seeded alone. Stride Vernal blend yields were not significantly different (5% level) from Vernal seeded alone in the second harvest year, but significantly less than Vernal in the third and fourth harvest years. Moapa plants died in the first winter after seeding. First harvest‐year yields of MoapaVernal blends were significantly less than Vernal alone. Differences in the second production year were smaller and in the 3rd and 4th harvest years blends containing 33% Moapa seed yielded about the same as Vernal seeded alone (20.35 vs 20.75 mt/ha). After the Moapa plants died in the first winter after seeding, the remaining Vernal plants gave a stand nearly as productive as Vernal seeded alone. When the Stride plants died after 2 or 3 years the remaining stand of Vernal plants was less productive than Vernal seeded alone. There was little advantage of the blends studied over a single well‐adapted variety.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Adding Stride to Vernal increased first-year alfalfa yield by 1.7 mt/ha.
- Taxon
- alfalfa
Medicago sativat0 - Material
- Stridee0
- Treatment
- Inclusion of Stridee0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 1.7 mt/hae0
- Comparator
- Vernal seeded alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Inclusion of Stride, a winter‐hardy, wilt‐susceptible variety, in a blend with Vernal increased yield 1.7 mt/ha in the 1st harvest year over Vernal seeded alone.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Stride–Vernal yield did not differ significantly from Vernal alone in the second harvest year.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Treatment
- Stride Vernal blende0
- Outcome
- yieldse0
- Direction
- not significantly differente0
- Qualifier
- second harvest yeare0
- Comparator
- Vernal seeded alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Stride Vernal blend yields were not significantly different (5% level) from Vernal seeded alone in the second harvest year”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Stride–Vernal yield was significantly less than Vernal alone in the third and fourth harvest years.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Treatment
- Stride Vernal blende0
- Outcome
- yieldse0
- Direction
- lesse0
- Qualifier
- third and fourth harvest yearse0
- Comparator
- Vernale0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Stride Vernal blend yields were not significantly different (5% level) from Vernal seeded alone in the second harvest year, but significantly less than Vernal in the third and fourth harvest years.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Moapa plants died during the first winter after seeding.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- Moapae0
- Outcome
- died in the first winter after seedinge0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Moapa plants died in the first winter after seeding.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Moapa–Vernal blend yield was significantly lower than Vernal alone in the first harvest year.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Treatment
- MoapaVernal blendse0
- Outcome
- First harvest‐year yieldse0
- Direction
- lesse0
- Comparator
- Vernal alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“First harvest‐year yields of MoapaVernal blends were significantly less than Vernal alone.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Second-year yield differences between Moapa–Vernal blends and Vernal alone were smaller.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Treatment
- MoapaVernal blendse1
- Outcome
- Differencese0
- Direction
- smallere0
- Qualifier
- second production yeare0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Differences in the second production year were smaller”
e1“MoapaVernal blends”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Blends with 33% Moapa seed yielded about the same as Vernal alone in years three and four.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Treatment
- blends containing 33% Moapa seede0
- Outcome
- yieldede0
- Direction
- about the samee0
- Value
- 20.35e0
- Qualifier
- 20.75 mt/hae0
- Comparator
- Vernal seeded alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the 3rd and 4th harvest years blends containing 33% Moapa seed yielded about the same as Vernal seeded alone (20.35 vs 20.75 mt/ha).”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
After Moapa died, remaining Vernal plants formed a stand nearly as productive as Vernal alone.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- Vernale0
- Outcome
- a stand nearly as productivee0
- Direction
- nearly as productivee0
- Comparator
- Vernal seeded alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“After the Moapa plants died in the first winter after seeding, the remaining Vernal plants gave a stand nearly as productive as Vernal seeded alone.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
After Stride died, remaining Vernal plants were less productive than Vernal alone.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- Vernale0
- Outcome
- remaining stand of Vernal plantse0
- Direction
- less productivee0
- Comparator
- Vernal seeded alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“When the Stride plants died after 2 or 3 years the remaining stand of Vernal plants was less productive than Vernal seeded alone.”
t0“alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
The studied blends offered little advantage over a single well-adapted variety.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Outcome
- little advantage of the blends studied over a single well‐adapted varietye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“There was little advantage of the blends studied over a single well‐adapted variety.”
t0“alfalfa”