Corn-Alfalfa Intercropping with Different Row Spacings

Abstract

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a staple crop grown mainly by dairy and beef farmers in the Midwest. To determine if seeding alfalfa with corn (Zea mays L.) could increase alfalfa forage yield and nutritive value in the second year, and provide a corn crop during the first year, an experiment was conducted in Prosper and Hickson, ND in 2020 and 2021. Corn grain yield in 2020 was negatively impacted by 152-cm corn row spacing compared with 76-cm row spacing. However, there was no significant difference in corn grain yield with or without an alfalfa intercrop for the same row spacing although it did trend lower in treatments with alfalfa intercropped. Intercropping corn and alfalfa with 76-cm corn row spacing was more profitable than conventional seeding. Optimizing this specific cropping system for growers in the Midwest could increase profitability as well as forage nutritive value and crop efficiency.