Management Tools to Improve Forage Quality and Persistence of Alfalfa

This research will evaluate forage yield and forage quality of reduced-lignin alfalfa in monoculture and in binary stands when subject to two harvest regimes focused on forage yield or quality. The experimental plots will be planted at the UK Spindletop Research farm in Lexington, KY. We will also supply photographs and samples from our research plots to the complete development of a system at Cornell (AGES: Alfalfa-Grass Evaluation System). The AGES systems will be used for assessing alfalfa percentage of alfalfa-grass mixtures and also for assessing alfalfa percentage and alfalfa quality by producers. During the last year of the project we will develop an extension program to help educate all stakeholders about the production and management requirements for reduced-lignin alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixtures and the quality benefits of this new trait. The project will be initiated Aug.1, 2016 and conclude July 30, 2017.