| Abstrakt: |
Alfalfa is the main perennial forage crop in Romania. The area cultivated with this specie is more 400.000 ha, this means around 50% from the total fodder crops. In Romania the alfalfa breeding program started in 1962, in NARDI Fundulea. From the beginning to now (2023) were developed and registered in Official Catalog 33 cultivars. In this paper are presented the results obtained with nine alfalfa varieties, tested in two locations: NARDI Fundulea in non irrigated land and in ARDS Caracal in irrigated land during 2017-2020. Two of them were registered in the Official Catalogue in 2023. These are synthetic varieties created by the polycross method, obtained by recombination and selection from Romanian and foreign germplasm. These are the result of selection for high feed and seed yielding, very good feed quality and good adaptability to different biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. This alfalfa varieties are characterized by a fast growth rate in spring, a fast regeneration after cutting, a good resistance to the most common diseases spread in Romania and have a very good level of resistance to winter. They achive large fodder yield, depending on the year and the crop system, between 11.5 and 18.8 t dry matter/ha, in irrigated land and exceeding the control varieties Catinca with outyielding of 10.3-17.3%. They are suitable for early cutting (in the budding phase), offering a very good quality feed, with a content of 20-21.5% C.P. from the dry matter and with a very good nutritive value, 72-73 digestibility coefficient. Based on the obtained results, two alfalfa varieties, from this set, were tested in the official network and were registered in 2023 under the names Petra and Monica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
