COMPARISON OF CHEMICALS TO INCREASE ALFALFA DRYING RATE.

AFALFA drying rates were monitored in field experiments to measure the effectiveness of various chemicals in reducing the field curing time in alfalfa hay production. Averaged over 29 field trials spanning a 4 year period with three cuttings per year, a chemical treatment with a 2. 8% (by mass) aqueous solution of potassium carbonate applied at 280 L/ha increased drying rate by 32%; this reduced field curing time by 1 day. A less expensive solution of 1. 4% each of potassium and sodium carbonates performed as well as potassium carbonate while the least expensive solution of 2. 8% sodium carbonate gave slightly lower drying rates. In these trials, addition of 2. 0% methyl esters of long chain fatty acids or other surfactants to a potassium carbonate solution did not provide further improvement in drying.