Abstract
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China. However, fertiliser applications and the environmental factors affecting alfalfa yield and quality have not been well documented. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis using a dataset from 105 studies published between 2003 and 2023 to explore the effects of fertiliser application and environmental factors on the yield and quality of alfalfa. The results showed that compared to the non-fertiliser control levels, fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61% and improved the quality of alfalfa by increasing crude protein by 11.63% and decreasing acid detergent fibre by 7.69% and neutral detergent fibre by 6.76%. Alfalfa yield and the crude protein effect size increased with increasing altitude but decreased with increasing latitude based on fertiliser application. The acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre effect size were positively correlated with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. In conclusion, applying fertiliser is a productive approach to enhance the yield and grade of alfalfa, but environmental factors have an effect. This study provides comprehensive information on fertiliser applications and environmental factors that affect alfalfa yield and quality. These results provide insight into further improving alfalfa yield and quality and contribute to the development of alfalfa.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by-nc. 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 7
Claim · model-written summary
Fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61% relative to non-fertiliser controls.
- Taxon
- Alfalfa
Medicago sativae1 - Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione2
- Outcome
- alfalfa yielde2
- Direction
- increasede2
- Value
- 24.61%e2
- Comparator
- non-fertiliser control levelse2
- Setting
- Chinae1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e2“compared to the non-fertiliser control levels, fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61%”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertiliser application increased alfalfa crude protein by 11.63% relative to non-fertiliser controls.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione2
- Outcome
- crude proteine3
- Direction
- increasinge3
- Value
- 11.63%e3
- Comparator
- non-fertiliser control levelse2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e2“compared to the non-fertiliser control levels, fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61%”
e3“improved the quality of alfalfa by increasing crude protein by 11.63%”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertiliser application decreased alfalfa acid detergent fibre by 7.69% relative to non-fertiliser controls.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione2
- Outcome
- acid detergent fibree4
- Direction
- decreasinge4
- Value
- 7.69%e4
- Comparator
- non-fertiliser control levelse2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e2“compared to the non-fertiliser control levels, fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61%”
e4“decreasing acid detergent fibre by 7.69% and neutral detergent fibre by 6.76%”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertiliser application decreased alfalfa neutral detergent fibre by 6.76% relative to non-fertiliser controls.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione2
- Outcome
- neutral detergent fibree4
- Direction
- decreasinge4
- Value
- 6.76%e4
- Comparator
- non-fertiliser control levelse2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e2“compared to the non-fertiliser control levels, fertiliser application increased alfalfa yield by 24.61%”
e4“decreasing acid detergent fibre by 7.69% and neutral detergent fibre by 6.76%”
Claim · model-written summary
Alfalfa yield and crude protein effect size increased with increasing altitude under fertiliser application.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione5
- Outcome
- Alfalfa yield and the crude protein effect sizee5
- Direction
- increasede5
- Setting
- increasing altitudee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e5“Alfalfa yield and the crude protein effect size increased with increasing altitude but decreased with increasing latitude based on fertiliser application”
Claim · model-written summary
Alfalfa yield and crude protein effect size decreased with increasing latitude under fertiliser application.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- fertiliser applicatione5
- Outcome
- Alfalfa yield and the crude protein effect sizee5
- Direction
- decreasede5
- Setting
- increasing latitudee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e5“Alfalfa yield and the crude protein effect size increased with increasing altitude but decreased with increasing latitude based on fertiliser application”
Claim · model-written summary
Acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre effect sizes were positively correlated with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Outcome
- acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre effect sizee6
- Direction
- positively correlatede6
- Setting
- mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitatione6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a superior-quality perennial legume forage crop cultivated in China”
e6“The acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre effect size were positively correlated with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · quality: grain · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
18 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- positive
- no effect
22 papers more in this group
See all 26 papers →fertilization · quality: protein · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
32 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- no effect
32 papers more in this group
See all 36 papers →fertilization · yield · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
150 papers in the same direction as this paper · 30 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- negative
- no effect
180 papers more in this group
See all 184 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.