Production performance comparison of four Alfalfa varieties in oasis region of North Xinjiang

The experiment was conducted in order to compare the production performance of four alfalfa (Medicago sativa) varieties in oasis region in four continuous years from 2004 to 2007.The result showed that the average growth rate (AGR) of WL-323 was faster than Algonquin, their AGR showed the character as slowquickslow, Pandus and Golden Queen had the greatest AGR in three years; and in the third year, AGR of Pandus was the quickest in all varieties. Total forage yield for all the varieties during the four years had significant difference(P＜0.01),which ranked as PandusGoldeQueenAlgonquinWL-323. The forage yield decreased rapidly in the fourth year; Pandus had the highest crude protein content. The comprehensive evaluation showed that Pandus had best performance in all varieties, and could be preferably considered in introduction in oasis region.