New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Effects of early cutting time and stubble height on yield and
quality in lucerne
Halil Yolcu
Mustafa Tan
Yunus SerIn
Ataturk University
Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Agronomy
25240, Erzurum, Turkey
yolcuh1972@yahoo.com
Abstract Lucerne is consumed not only as hay, but
it is also used as the raw material of concentrated food for livestock.
This study investigated the effects of four cutting times (20, 40,
60 cm tall and at the beginning of flowering) and three stubble
heights (base, 5 and 10 cm) on the dry matter (DM) and nitrogen
(N) yields, the N content of tops, and non-structural carbohydrate
(NSC) in roots of lucerne. The experiment was a 4 × 3 factorial
in a randomised complete block design with four replications carried
out at the Research Station of Agricultural Faculty,
Atatürk University, in 1996 and 1997. The N content
decreased while the DM and N yields of top and NSC content of the roots
increased as the cutting height, and consequently plant maturity,
increased. The lower stubble heights increased the DM and N yields, but
they decreased the NSC contents in roots. Therefore, the highest DM
yield (12 660 kg ha–1) was taken when
lucerne was harvested at the beginning of flowering and cut from the
base.
Keywords lucerne; cutting time; stubble height;
hay yield; non-structural carbohydrate; nitrogen content
A04100; Received 19 November 2004; accepted 8 February 2006; Online
publication date 16 May 2006
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2006, Vol. 49:
201–206
0028–8233/06/4902–0201 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2006
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