NITROGEN FERTILIZER AND ITS EFFECT ON GREEN FORAGE YIELD OF TWO ALFALFA CULTIVARS

A field experiment was conducted at the farm of Field Crops Department-College of Agriculture-University of Baghdad/Abu Ghraib, from 2011 to 2013 to study the effect of nitrogen fertilization on green forage and dry weight of two alfalfa cultivars. The experiment was layout with RCBD according to split plots arrangement with four replications. The main plots contained two cultivars (locale and syne) while the sub-plots contained nitrogen levels (0,60 and 120) kg N ha(-1). The result showed that there was no significant differences effect between cultivars in all studied traits, but nitrogen fertilizer had significant effect on the first eight cutting only, the level 60 Kg Nha(-1) gave the highest mean for plant height, while the level 120 Kg Nha(-1) gave the highest mean for number of tillers, green forage and dry yield. The interaction between two factors significantly gave the highest plant height in1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th cutting only, the syne cultivar that was treated with 60 kg Nha(-1) gave the highest mean for plant height, while the locale variety that was treated with 120 kg Nha(-1) gave the highest mean for number of tillers in the 3rd, 5th and 6th cutting.