Productivity of indigenous alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivar depending on agricultural practices on sierozem soils in South Kazakhstan

Abstract

Article InfoIn Turkestan region of South Kazakhstan has large areas of fertile sierozem soils that are important for crop production and its accompanying economic development. And also, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is an important forage crop grown for seed production. The soils are fertile loams, but because of the regions dry environment, they need to be irrigated. Field experiments were conducted from 2017 to 2020 on one-year or older alfalfa stands grown for seed production at various plots on sierozem soils in rainfed areas of Turkestan region to determine the influence of agricultural practices such as fertilizer use, pesticide use and conventional tillage on seed yield and dry hay of alfalfa stands. The findings of field research experiments indicated that agricultural practices of fertilizer use, pesticide use and conventional tillage was essential to obtain maximum seed yield and dry hay of alfalfa. But, it was determined that the best outputs tended to be obtained with Fertilizer use + Pesticide use + Conventional tillage.

Identification of promising alfalfa varieties in conditions of the southern forest-steppe zone (Republic of Bashkortostan): a study of economic and biological characteristics

“…Farmers in a continental climate region with cold and dry winters previously reported achieving good alfalfa yields with phosphorus fertilizers; in these cases, alfalfa was planted in late summer (Wang et al 2022 ). In Kazakhstan, high alfalfa and seed yields were achieved through the combined use of insecticides and fertilizers; grey soils under which they were cultivated underwent conventional treatment (Absatova et al 2022 ). In Turkey, farmers achieved high hay and seed yields even later, in early October (Kir 2022 ).…”