Snow management increases alfalfa yields

Three varieties of alfalfa were seeded in May of 1986 into random plots within and adjacent to a 3.3 ha (8 acre) shelterbelt consisting of Orbit tall wheatgrass wind barriers located near Swift Current, Saskatchewan. The barriers had been established from a 1976 double-row, north-south oriented seeding spaced 15 m apart and now occupying about 5.5% of the land area. The grass annually produces culms which over the years averaged 1 m in height and provided a snow-deposition zone whose annual maximum capacity exceeds the 75th snowfall percentile by 3 fold. Although this maximum was not reached during any season since the alfalfa was seeded, snow cover retentions at the time of measurement in 1987 and 1988 averaged 150% or greater than those surveyed outside the shelterbelt. Alfalfa forage production on 60 plots, half within and half outside the shelterbelt, was measured during the 1987 and 1988 growing seasnons; no comparisons were made in the 1986 establishment year. Oven-dried, above-ground biomass in (etc).