Date of Award

2021

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Awarded

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Plant Sciences

College

Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources

Faculty Advisor

Berti, Marisol

Description

Intercropping of maize (Zea mays L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is not a commonpractice because alfalfa generally reduces maize grain and biomass yield. The objective of thisresearch was to evaluate the productivity and profitability of maize-alfalfa intercropping. Theexperiment was conducted in Fargo and Prosper, ND, from 2014 to 2017. The design was arandomized complete block design with four replicates and a split-plot arrangement. Treatmentswere: 1) maize monoculture, 2) maize intercropped with alfalfa, 3) maize intercropped withalfalfa + prohexadione, and 4) spring-seeded alfalfa (in 2015). Alfalfa established inintercropping with maize had almost double the forage yield in the following year compared withspring-seeded alfalfa, and had higher net returns than silage-maize followed by spring-seededalfalfa the following year. This system has the potential to get more growers to have alfalfa inthe rotation by skipping the typical low yielding alfalfa in establishment year.

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/32737

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