Location: Dairy Forage Research
Project Number: 5090-21500-002-053-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2024
End Date: Aug 31, 2028
Objective:
The ARS PIs and the Cooperator will work collaboratively to identify environmental and biological drivers associated with alfalfa winter kill. Information from those experiments will generate tools that growers can use to make more informed decisions about the likelihood of winter kill or how to avoid it.
Approach:
The work will involves collaboration between the UW-Madison extension and the USDA to develop information and tools to prevent winter kill loss in alfalfa. Scientists from UW Madison and th USDA will share responsibility for generating field trials that will cause winter kill conditions. We will monitoring networks of farms to see if the experimental winter kill treatments are similar to on farm experiences and model the factors that most significantly contribute to winter kill.