ABSTRACT

In the late 1920s, Graber et al. 71 studied organic food reserves in alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). They stated that stored foods in roots of alfalfa could be a limiting factor for forage yields. They recommended that the practice of cutting alfalfa should be adjusted to meet the demands of forage quality and at the same time insure a reasonable performance of plants. They proposed that by delaying the cutting to near the full bloom stage productivity could be maintained. This work marked the beginning of a long series of research projects that have resulted in a number of studies on organic reserves in many herbage species.