35 Herbage Accumulation and Nutritive Value of Legume-grass Baleage: A Comparison of Alfalfa-bermudagrass and Red Clover-bermudagrass in the Southeast

Abstract When interseeded into bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon), alfalfa (Medicago sativa) has shown to increase herbage accumulation and improve forage nutritive value in Southern forage systems. However, data is limited on biennial red clover (Trifolium pratense) when interseeded into bermudagrass in the same manner. Therefore, a 2-yr evaluation was implemented in Tifton, GA to evaluate the herbage accumulation and nutritive value of annually seeded ‘Barduro’ red clover interseeded into ‘Tifton 85’ bermudagrass (CLO) to an existing stand of ‘Bulldog 805’ alfalfa interseed into ‘Tifton 85’ bermudagrass (ALF) (est. in 2016) when harvested as baleage. Treatments were randomly assigned in a randomized complete block design (2 treatments, 5 reps) to 0.2-ha plots and CLO treatments were established in winter of each year prior to evaluation. Plots were harvested once legume component reached early bloom stage (10%) every 28-35 d, baled at 40 to 60% moisture, cored for analysis, and individually wrapped. Harvested plots were evaluated for herbage accumulation, botanical composition, and nutritional value. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS as repeated measurements with the fixed effect of treatment, time, and their interactions, and random effect of block. Plot was considered the experimental unit. For both years ALF (Y1=1,753 and Y2=2,158 kg of DM ha-1, respectively) had a greater (P ≤ 0.048) herbage accumulation when compared to CLO (Y1=1,165 and Y2=1,946 kg of DM ha-1, respectively). Nutritive value was similar (P ≥ 0.122) for both treatments. Where ALF and CLO average 17.4, 50.7, 32.4, 63.2% (CP, NDF, ADF, TDN, respectively) with a SEM ≤ 0.943%. Both mixtures had similar nutritive value; therefore, adding legumes into bermudagrass can improve forage nutritive value. However, alfalfa-bermudagrass mixture had a greater yield in both years. Annually seeded red-clover bermudagrass mixtures provide an opportunity to produce baleage with similar nutritional value to alfalfa-bermudagrass but lower yielding.