Agriculture Commons^™

Alfalfa Water Productivity And Yield Gaps In The U.S. Central Great Plains, Kaylin P. Fink, Patricio Grassini, Alexandre Rocateli, Leonardo M. Bastos, Jude Kastens, Luke P. Ryan, Xiaomao Lin, Andres Patrignani, Romulo P. Lollato

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Context: Yield gap (Yg) analyses using farmer-reported yield and management data have been performed for a number of annual grain crops, but it lacks for perennial forages. The U.S. accounts for 21 % of the global alfalfa production with a large rainfed area located in the central Great Plains, serving as an interesting case-study for Yg in perennial forages. Most existing alfalfa Yg analyses quantified the magnitude of the Yg but failed to identify associated management practices to reduce it. Challenging this analysis, a systematic benchmark for alfalfa water productivity [WP, kg dry matter per mm evapotranspiration (ETc)] that …