Scientific Cultivation and Management Techniques of Alfalfa

Alfalfa is a general name of Medicago, commonly known as "clover" (clover can also be called other clover plants). It is a perennial flowering plant. One of the most famous is alfalfa (Medicago sativa), which is used as a forage. It's livestock feed.

Morphological characteristics of alfalfa

Annual or perennial herbs, sparse shrubs, without vanilla odor. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; stipules partially connate with petiole, entire or toothed; leaflets 3, margin usually serrate, lateral veins extending to tooth tip. Racemes axillary, sometimes capitate or solitary, flowers small, generally pedicellate; bracts small or absent; calyx campanulate or tubular, calyx teeth 5, equal; Corolla yellow, alfalfa and other hybrids are often purple, pansy, brown, etc., flag petal Obovate to oblong, base narrow, often reflexed, wing oblong, one side with tooth tip protuberance and keel ear body hooked each other, after pollination, keel blunt end Stamens dichotomous, filament tip not inflated, anthers homomorphic; style short, conical or linear, slightly flattened on both sides, glabrous, stigma terminal, ovary linear, sessile or shortly stipitate, ovules 1 to numerous. Pods spirally flexuous, reniform, falcate or suberect, longer than calyx, dorsal sutures often angled or spiny; seeds 1 to numerous. Seeds small, usually smooth, more or less reniform, without caruncle; cotyledons basally unearthed from seedlings are not dilated and jointless.

Scientific cultivation and management techniques of alfalfa

I. Land preparation

1. Land selection: choose one or two kinds of land with good soil fertility and perfect water conservancy facilities for planting. The planting of barren soil and land without water conservancy facilities can only be used as an agricultural measure to improve soil and fertile land, and can not obtain ideal benefits. For the plots that are prone to stagnant water after low concave rain can not be planted, alfalfa will be suffocated for 48 hours. In planting, it is necessary to focus on large area connection, so as to be suitable for all kinds of mechanical operations.

2. Land preparation

1) Alfalfa is a perennial leguminous forage, and the general rotation period is 5-6 years. Therefore, it is necessary to turn deeply, rake and compact before sowing, so as to meet various requirements, so as to facilitate the emergence of seedlings after sowing.

2) the land should be leveled, the ground should be flat, and the potholes should not be uneven, so as to affect the mechanical harvesting and baling operations and the income of growers (when the land is uneven, the stubble will be too high to pick up and dirty, etc.).

3) the plots with serious weed growth were sprayed with trifluralin (100ml / mu) 10 days before sowing to reduce the harm of weeds. Perennial weeds were sprayed with paraquat, glyphosate and 2.4mol D before sowing.

4) fertilization: alfalfa has well-developed roots and deep roots, so it is combined with soil preparation before planting, applying farm manure 1 / mu, calcium superphosphate 50 / 100 kg as base fertilizer, or 30 kg diammonium and 20 kg urea.

5) for the irrigated land without sprinkler irrigation facilities, according to the mowing range of the lawn mower, combined with the ridging and ridging of the land preparation, it is convenient for the field to be watered in the future. at present, the range of the lawn mower is 2.5 meters.

Second, sowing seeds

1. Sowing date

Alfalfa can be sowed in spring, summer and autumn, but autumn sowing is the best. Autumn sowing has few weeds and sufficient soil water, which is beneficial to seedling emergence and root growth. The best time is August 10-15, and the suitable sowing time is before September 15.

2. Sowing method: the mechanical strip sowing method is adopted, and the suitable row spacing is 30 cm, which is convenient for ploughing and weeding and topdressing fertilizer.

3. Sowing rate: generally, 0.6 min 0.7 kg / mu (the germination rate of seeds should be more than 95%). Excessive sowing rate will affect the population growth in the field, and the seedlings are thin and weak. In order to facilitate the control of sowing rate, sifted diammonium or monoammonium can be mixed with seeds.

4. Sowing depth: it is generally 0.5ml 2cm, and the ones with larger soil viscosity should be shallower, in order to produce whole seedlings and good seedlings.

III. Field management

1. Ploughing and weeding

In order to ensure the quality and purity of alfalfa forage grass, meet the requirements of commercial grass at home and abroad, and the direct economic benefits of growers, the field management of intertillage weeding is particularly important. therefore, it is necessary to carry out intertillage and weeding in time at all stages of alfalfa growth, so that there are no weeds in the land, and ensure the quality and requirements of purchase and export (weed content is less than 5%).

2. Topdressing

After turning green and harvesting once a year, according to soil fertility and bottom fertilizer, 2.5 kg of urea, 4 kg of potassium chloride and 10 kg of phosphate fertilizer are applied per mu. To ensure the growth needs and yield requirements of the next crop.

3. Watering

In order to improve the yield of alfalfa and achieve the goal of high quality, high yield and high efficiency, according to the situation of precipitation and field distribution, combined with topdressing and timely watering of overwintering water and turning green water, it is also necessary to water in time after each harvest to promote regeneration.

4. Check seedlings and replant

After emergence, it is necessary to check the situation of seedling emergence in time, and if it is found that there is a lack of seedling monopoly, it is necessary to replant in time, and the replanting method is often used after rain.

5. Pest control

The common pests of alfalfa are aphids, thrips, ground tigers, cotton worms and so on, but they do not cause harm in general years. Under special natural conditions, if insect pests occur, they will be prevented and treated according to the actual situation. The rodent damage can be prevented by the combination of watering and blocking the hole with medicine.