Evaluation And Selection Of Alfalfa Varieties In Ordos Area

For screening of high yield and good quality alfalfa varieties suitable for Ordos region.In this study,12 domestic and foreign alfalfa varieties were used as materials,and their adaptability(overwintering rate,phenological period,growth rate),productivity(morphological characteristics,field density,grass layer structure,plant height,yield),quality(dry-fresh ratio,stem-leaf ratio,CP,NDF,ADF,ADL,EE and ASH)were measured and analyzed in the experimental station of Ordos Academy of Agricultural and Animal Sciencesin 2017 and 2018.The following results were obtained:1.According to the adaptability analysis,the overwintering rate was from the highest to the lowest in the order of ZhongCao No.3(84.60%)>ZhongMu No.l>Magnum 418Q>Concept>Magnum-Salt>WL343HQ>WL319HQ>Magnum?>WL 168HQ>Knight No.2>Zhong Mu No.3>WL298HQ(61.06%).The earliest flowering varieties are Concept,Magnum 418Q,MagnumII and WL168HQ(May 25),and Concept with the longest growing days(189 days).The fastest growing varieties are ZhongMu No.3,MagnumII and Magnum-Salt;The comprehensive evaluation showed that Concept and Magnum-Salt had strong adaptability to the Ordos area.2.Production performance analysis found that the internodal distances(7.38cm)and the secondary branch number(1.48)of ZhongCao No.3 had the best performance.The highest number of total branches are WL319HQ(12.2),WL298HQ(11.87)and ZhongMu No.1(11.83).In the field density,the varieties with high number of surviving branches were Magnum-Salt(279.78),Concept(267)and Knight No.2(247.11).From the structure of grass layer,the varieties with more leaves above 30cm were ZhongCao No.3(77.55%),Knight No.2(71.80%)and WL298HQ(70.08%).The varieties with higher average plant height were Magnum?(68.1cm),WL298HQ(68.0cm)and Magnum 418Q(67.4cm).The varieties with higher average hay yields were Magnum?(16681.5 kg/h m2),Concept(16130.13 kg/h m2)and Magnum-Salt(15964.32 kg/h m2).The cluster analysis showed that the varieties with better yield characters were Magnum?,Magnum-Salt and Concept.3.Quality characteristics analysis showed that the varieties with high dry and fresh quality were ZhongCao No.3(25.87%),Concept(24.99%)and ZhongMu No.1(24.96%).The lowest stem-leaf ratio was WL319HQ(1.06%).The varieties with high CP content were Concept 18.01%),WL319HQ(17.83%)and Knight No.2(17.5%).The lowest content of NDF and ADF was Concept(43.67%,27.41%),while the lowest content of ADL was Knight No.2(18.34%).The varieties with high EE content were Concept(1.5%),WL343HQ(1.43%)and ZhongCao No.3(1.38%).The lowest ASH content was found in ZhongCao No.3(7.89%).Cluster analysis on the above indexes showed that Concept had the best quality,followed by WL319HQ.4.The evaluation of comprehensive adaptability,production performance and quality characteristics showed that Concept and Magnum-Salt had the best performance and had good comprehensive characteristics,which was suitable for the promotion and cultivation of salt-alkali land in ordos region.