Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations


acre in two cuttings within 120 days after planting. Hairy Pe-
ruvian alfalfa grew slower at first, but produced almost as much
forage as did the Indian strain at second cutting. Alfalfa has
since been grown in Florida as an annual.
 Plant diseases have been a major factor in causing loss of
stand and the necessity for replanting alfalfa annually. How-
ever, work at the West Florida Station (4) indicated that stage
of growth at cutting influenced livability. Cutting at one-tenth
bloom or later as compared to cutting at the prebud stage in-
creased the percentage of plants overwintering from 10 percent
to 50 to 60 percent but reduced forage yield by about 1,000 pounds
per acre.
 Recent work at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
(5) revealed that an experimental strain of alfalfa selected for
persistence was equal to the commonly grown commercial hairy
Peruvian in forage production the first year after seeding and
gave significantly higher yields the second and third year due
to better stands. Alfalfa, primarily hairy Peruvian and Chilean
varieties, grown in Florida in 1961, was estimated at 30,000
acres (7).
 At Lewisburg, Tennessee (8), irrigated alfalfa-ladino-or-
chardgrass mixed pasture provided 49 percent more cow days
of grazing, and cows produced 4,302 pounds per acre, or 54
percent, more 4 percent fat-corrected milk on irrigated than
on unirrigated pasture.
 Work at the Florida Station (9) indicated that returns per
acre inch of irrigation water applied were greater for legume
pasture than for permanent pasture grass. Since the experi-
mental pasture mixture to be tested would produce quality for-
age, and since alfalfa is a deep rooted plant, it was thought that
irrigation might produce favorable returns. Therefore, the
study was undertaken to determine the yield of total digestible
nutrients, quality, distribution of feed supply, and net returns
that may be realized from unirrigated and irrigated pasture
under an intensive grazing management program.

 METHOD OF PROCEDURE

 A pasture mixture of hairy Peruvian alfalfa, oats, and clovers
was seeded annually in September or October for four years on
Scranton loamy fine sand at Hague, Florida. During 1954-55,
a 2-acre unirrigated pasture was seeded and grazed. Beginning
in 1955, irrigation was included as a variable and during two