Evaluation of Foliar Applied Products on Alfalfa.

Foliar applications of several commercial products were evaluated in alfalfa trials at Kimberly, Idaho to evaluate alfalfa yield and forage quality. Roundup Ready© Alfalfa was sown in 10 ft by 30 ft (3 m by 9 m) plots 5 May 2012 with 4 reps in a randomized complete block. Foliar treatments were applied on the well-established plots in 2014 as (1) control; (2) CP Bio product CPB 13K120 at 2 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (3) NutriSyncB at 2 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (4) CPB 13S63 at 2 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (5) CPB 13Ca10 at 2 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (6) CPB 13K120 at 1 pt/A plus CPB 13S63 at 1 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (7) CPB 13K120 at 2 pt/A plus NutriSyncB at 1 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; (8) CPB 13CA10 at 2 pt/A plus NutriSyncB at 1 pt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; and (9) RE-NFORCE K at 2 qt/A and LI 700 at 0.125%V/v; all at each of 4 applications. Treatments were applied at green-up + 10 d, 1^st cut + 10 d, 2^nd cut + 10 d, and 3^rd cut + 10d. Forage was grab-sampled for a composite sample across replications, oven-dried, and analyzed for forage quality by NIRS. First, second, third, and fourth cutting forage yield means for all treatments were 4.02, 2.40, 1.86, and 1.46 tons/A, respectively, and were not different. The CV for the yields by cutting were 5.6, 9.6, 8.7, and 5.8%, respectively. The forage quality parameters did not show much difference by treatment, although statistical analysis was not possible.