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Seeding Rates for Alfalfa
Recommended seeding rate for dryland alfalfa established with a companion crop is 5 to 10
lb/acre with slightly higher rates in eastern than western North Dakota. A rate of 8 to 10
lb/acre should be used when alfalfa is seeded without a companion crop. Alfalfa plant
density experiments conducted at Fargo, indicate that as few as five to nine plants per
square foot (plants/sq. ft.) uniformly spaced in the field produced near maximum forage
yields the year after seeding. Even one plant/sq. ft. produced 80% of maximum yield in the
first and second harvest year. Forage quality (acid-detergent fiber, crude protein and in
vitro dry matter digestibility) was similar among plant densities in the first and third
harvest years, indicating that maturity, not plant density, was the major factor affecting
forage quality. Each pound of alfalfa seed sown should result in about 4.5 seeds/sq. ft.
placed in the field. With good seeding technique, properly prepared seedbeds and
reasonable moisture, 50 to 60% seedling emergence can be expected. Therefore, 5 to 8
lb/acre seeding rates should be placing 22 to 36 seeds/sq. ft. and emerging from 12 to 22
seedlings/sq. ft.
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