Yield and yield components of alfalfa seed as affected by the sowing system employed

Abstract

Investigations of the seed yield and yield components of alfalfa cv. NS Slavija were conducted under agroenvironmental conditions in the region of the City of Nis on alluvial soil. An analysis was made of three-year research results obtained by alfalfa cultivation at inter row spacings of 20cm, 40 cm and 60 cm. Under changeable climatic conditions in the above region, an average seed yield of 287.4 kgha-1 was obtained, the highest and the lowest yields being produced at inter-row spacings of 40 cm (311 kgha-1) and 60 cm (264.8 kgha-1), respectively. The highest number of inflorescences per stem was obtained at the 60 cm spacing (14.4 inflorescences/stem), the lowest number being recorded at the 20 cm spacing (9.9 inflorescences/stem), giving an average number of 12.6 inflorescences/stem. Planting at an inter-row spacing of 60 cm (8.10 pods/inflorescence) yielded the highest number of pods/inflorescence, whereas the lowest number was produced at the 20 cm spacing (5.91 pods/inflorescence). The number of grains per pod ranged from 3.64 (at the row spacing of 20 cm) to 4.18 (at the row spacing of 60 cm). A weak positive correlation was determined between the number of inflorescences/stem and seed yield (r=0.389), as opposed to the pod number/inflorescence and grain number per pod having a strong positive correlation with the seed yield (r=0.764 and r=0.719, respectively).