Roundup Ready and conventional alfalfa delivered equal yield and quality across planting dates and cutting schedules in a Penn State University trial.
One variety of each type of alfalfa was planted in spring the past two years.
“We found greater weed content in the harvested material when the alfalfa was planted earlier compared to later in the spring,” the researchers report. “Season-total forage yield (alfalfa plus weeds) and alfalfa yield increased as cutting interval increased from 25 to 30 to 35 days.”
In the first cutting of the seeding year, alfalfa yields were lower when Pursuit was used for weed control instead of Roundup, they add.