Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) has been cultivated increasingly widely in the arable area of the middle‐eastern regions of China as a short‐term (1 or 2 years) component of a forage–grain rotation system, but little is known about the harvesting technique for this legume in the short‐term rotation. This study investigated the effects of cutting height (0‐, 5‐ and 10‐cm stubble height above the soil surface) on shoot regrowth and forage yield of alfalfa in the second‐year growing season at two sites in Shandong Province, China. Forage yield at the first harvest was higher under lower cutting height (0 > 5 > 10 cm) at both sites due to greater length and weight of individual shoots harvested. At the site where plants were fertilized and irrigated after the first harvest, lower cutting height increased the number of buds during the early regrowth period and the number of shoots per plant at the second harvest, though it decreased the length and weight of individual shoots harvested. At the site without fertilizer and irrigation, lower cutting height delayed the sprouting of buds after defoliation, and decreased the length of shoots harvested at the second cut. Forage yield at the second harvest was ranked 0 ≈ 5 > 10 cm under fertilizer and irrigation, and 0 ≈ 5 ≈ 10 cm under no fertilizer and irrigation. The path analysis showed that forage yield was affected primarily by the weight of individual shoots at the first cut and by shoot number per plant in the aftermath. Harvesting close to the ground is considered to be a management option to increase alfalfa yield in a short‐term forage production system subjected to irrigation and fertilizer.

. 2008. Forage yield performance and nutritive value of selected wild soybean ecotypes. Can. J. Plant Sci. 88: 465Á472. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the yield, yield components and quality of three wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) ecotypes (FJW-9, SDW-12 and HLW-18) as forage in Dongying Forage Experiment Station of China in 2004 and 2005. Biomass yield and nutritional quality were observed using leaf, stem and whole plant taken from five harvest dates. The results show that the harvest dates had significant effects on leaf, stem, pod and whole-plant dry matter yields and forage quality (P B0.01). Wild soybean ecotypes included in the study produced whole-plant dry matter from 2.3 to 6.5 Mg ha(1 at different harvest dates. The highest dry matter yield came from the Sep. 17 harvest date, with average crude protein (CP) concentration of 191 g kg . Ecotype FJW-9 had higher dry matter yields of leaf, stem and whole plant than SDW-12 and HLW-18 (PB0.05). Mean CP concentration in whole plant of FJW-9 was higher (212 g kg (1 ), while the mean NDF and ADF concentrations of FJW-9 were lower than HLW-18 and SDW-12. Dry matter partitioning of wild soybean plant parts was greatly affected by harvest dates. There were statistically significant differences between wild soybean ecotypes in leaf, stem and whole-plant yields. The correlation between whole-plant dry matter yield and pod yield was not statistically significant (r 00.13). These results suggest that wild soybeans have the potential to provide forage of high quality and adequate quantity for animals. Ils ont de´termine´la production de biomasse et la valeur nutritive des e´cotypes a`partir des feuilles, des tiges et des plants pre´leve´s a`cinq dates. Les re´sultats indiquent que la date de re´colte exerce une influence notable sur le rendement en matie`re se`che et sur la qualite´fourrage`re des feuilles, des tiges, des gousses et du plant (p B0,01). Le plant des e´cotypes de soja sauvage examine´s produit 2,3 a`6,5 Mg de matie`re se`che par hectare selon la date de la re´colte. Le meilleur rendement en matie`re se`che est survenu le 17 septembre avec, en moyenne, 191 g de prote´ines brutes par kg, 355 g de fibres au de´tergent neutre par kg et 254 g de fibres au de´tergent acide par kg. L'e´cotype FJW-9 pre´sentait une plus grande quantite´de matie`re se`che dans ses feuilles, ses tiges et le plant que 05). La concentration moyenne de prote´ines brutes du plant de FJW-9 de´passait (212 g par kg) celle des deux autres e´cotypes (205 et 199 g par kg), mais la quantiteḿ oyenne de fibres au de´tergent neutre ou acide de FJW-9 e´tait infe´rieure a`celles de HLW-18 et de SDW-12. La re´partition de la matie`re se`che dans les organes du soja sauvage varie conside´rablement avec la date de la re´colte. Les e´cotypes de soja sauvage pre´sentent des e´carts statistiquement significatifs pour le rendement des feuilles, des tiges et du plant. La corre´lation entre le rendement en matie`re se`che du plant et le rendement des gousses n'est pas statisti...