Dry matter yield and nutritive quality of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cultivars grown in sub-humid areas in Ethiopia

Abstract Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is one of the most important perennial forage legumes with high nutritional quality. Four alfalfa cultivars were sown in randomized block design with four replications to evaluate their dry matter yield and nutritional quality under rain-fed conditions during 2016–2017 at Masha, southwest Ethiopia. Percentage of plot cover, plant height, leaf to stem ratio, dry matter yield, crude protein yield, and dry matter (DM), ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were measured. The combined analysis revealed that days to 50% flowering were significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by cultivar and cropping year. Dry matter yield was significantly affected by cultivar and cultivar vs year interaction. Hairy Peruvian scored the highest plot cover percentage followed by Pioneer 00407, Hunter River, and Magna 788. The overall mean for days to 50% flowering indicated that Hunter River reached more lately than others. We observed that leaf-to-stem ratio and plant height were insignificant among the cultivars. Hairy Peruvian gave a higher dry matter yield (15.0 t ha−1) followed by Pioneer 00407 (12.1 t ha−1), Magna 788 (11.5 t ha−1), and Hunter River (10.5 t ha−1). The chemical compositions did not vary significantly (P > 0.05) due to cultivar differences. It could be concluded that, of the tested cultivars, Hairy Peruvian is an appropriate cultivar for biomass production potential under rain-fed conditions for sub-humid areas of southwest Ethiopia.