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Proceedings
EFFECT OF AGRONOMIC FACTORS ON SEED YIELD AND QUALITY IN CULTIVARS OF ALFALFA.
A. Iannucci1, N. Di Fonzo2 and P. Martiniello1
1Istituto Sperimentale Colture Foraggere, SOP di Foggia, Via Napoli 52, 71100 Foggia, Italy.
2Istituto Sperimentale Cerealicoltura, SOP di Foggia, s.s. 16, Km 675, 71100 Foggia, Italy.
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is widely grown in the South of Italy, however its seed production is influenced by management practices and by harmful environmental conditions, particularly hot and water deficit. Five cultivars, Equipe, Iside, Lodi, Robot and Romagnola were evaluated in 1995 and 1996 using two watering treatments (with and without irrigation) and four harvest managements (early harvest, plant desiccation by chemical agent , harvest at early flowering, plant never cut) to determine the effects of these factors on seed production, seed germination and vigour. Irrigation influenced positively seed yield (46%) and negatively harvest index (36%) and seed weight (4%). Among the harvesting procedures applied, the higher seed yield values were found after a cut at early plant growth stage (0.33 t ha-1 on the year average). Irrigation and harvest treatments influenced similarly the seed yield of the genotypes examined: Equipe, having higher production values (0.37 t ha-1), showed the better adaptability to the environmental conditions. Standard germination, mean germination time, germination rate and accelerated ageing test were not influenced by agronomic factors applied and by cultivars considered in the study. There was a positive correlation between standard germination and vigour test (r=0.57**) indicating that seeds with high germination ability had also high vigour. Thus, the effects of irrigation and harvesting treatments on germination and seed vigour were substantially less than that on yield and were inconsistent across years, for all cultivars.
Keywords: alfalfa; irrigation; harvest management; seed yield; standard germination; mean germination time; seed vigour.