Page 12—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 7, 1998
DR. MARVIN H. HALL
Extension Forage Specialist
Penn State
It is that time of year when alfalfa
seed is generally purchased for seed
ing in the spring. However, the choice
of which variety “is best” for a parti
cular farm is not that easy!
During the past 10 years, more than
ISO alfalfa varieties or experimental
lines have been evaluated at Penn
State University in research trials at
three locations in Pennsylvania.
A large number of varieties for
which adequate data are available
have performed satisfactorily in these
research trials. The results of these
variety evaluation trials appear in the
“Forage Trials Report.” The 1997 edi
tion of this annual publication is avail
able free of charge at county offices of
Penn State Cooperative Extension.
With all of these varieties available,
how can the “best” variety be se
lected?
First of all, there is no “best” variety
for all situations. In fact, there prob
ably is not one “best” variety for a
single Pennsylvania farm because of
the extreme variability in soils across
the state. The key to selecting varieties
is to identify the two or three varieties
that are best suited for a particular
situation. The following steps may
help identify those suitable varieties.
1. Select varieties that have ade
quate resistance to the diseases preva
lent in your area, on your farm, or in
the exact field where the alfalfa will
be planted.
2. From these varieties, select those
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that have persisted well in environ
ments or situations similar to the farm
where they will be planted. This in
formation is given in the Penn State
“Forage Trials Report.”
3. From the list of varieties that you
have identified as acceptable, select
the highest yielding varieties. This can
be done by selecting the highest yield
ing variety at (me location over several
years or by selecting the varieties that
were among the highest yielding at all
locations for several years. The first
method will provide a small list of
varieties that yield well under a nar
rowing range of conditions, while the
second method provides a limited list
of varieties that yield well under a
wider range of conditions.
Features include:
Selecting An Alfalfa Variety
4. From the list, select 2 or 3 varie-
ties to plant and “test” in the field.
The varieties selected in this man
ner, when properly fertilized and man
aged, will be the highest yielding
available and normally persist for
three or more years. By planting a
couple varieties, you arc testing the
“best” varieties to see which is truly
best on your farm or in a particular
field. This information should help
when selecting an alfalfa variety in the
future. Avoid use of nonadapted com
mon seedlots when growing alfalfa as
a perennial forage crop in Pennsylva
nia.
A limited number of alfalfa varie
ties have the potential of producing
secondary roots and have a spreading
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growth habit These varieties are re
ferred to as “creeping” alfalfas. How
ever, in a humid climate such as Penn
sylvania, these varieties have shown
growth habits similar to our more typi
cal bunch-type alfalfas and have
shown no yield advantage.
Multileaf varieties, varieties devel
oped to have more than three leaflets
per leaf have been marketed in
Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, these
varieties have not consistently shown
improved quality or yield over tradi
tional, varieties.
Once again, select varieties based
on disease resistance, winter hardi
ness, and yield, not because they arc
multileafs.
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