Impact of raking and baling patterns on alfalfa hay dry matter and quality losses

Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Khalid A Al-Gaadi

Abstract

A field study was conducted to investigate the impact of different patterns of raking and baling operations on the dry matter (DM) and quality losses of the produced alfalfa (Medicago sativa) hay. The experimental work was carried out on a 50 ha center pivot irrigated alfalfa field in a commercial farm located in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Raking operation was performed following two patterns corresponding to the direction of mowing operation, namely, Raking-I in the same direction of mowing (Mowing→  and Raking→) and Raking-II opposite to the direction of mowing (Mowing→ and Raking←). The baling operation; however, was performed following four patterns corresponding to the directions of both mowing and raking operations, namely, Baling-I (Mowing→, Raking→ and Baling→), Baling-II (Mowing→, Raking→ and Baling←), Baling-III (Mowing→, Raking← and Baling→) and Baling-IV (Mowing→, Raking← and Baling←). Results showed that cumulative DM losses in alfalfa hay yield of 30.93% occurred during the harvesting operations. Out of which, raking induced the most DM losses of 985.22 kg ha-1 (59.66% of the total DM losses and 17.35% of the total hay yield). However, the least DM losses were observed during the baling operation and were...Continue Reading

Methods Mentioned

BETA
infrared reflectance spectroscopy

Software Mentioned

CoStat

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