Influence of Environmental Factors on Field Natural Drying of Alfalfa

Nutrient loss of alfalfa in the drying process has always been a key technical problem restricting the development of alfalfa industry.Therefore,speeding the drying rate and shortening the drying time become significant for alfalfa hay drying and processing.The moisture contents of ’Golden Queen’ alfalfa and major meteorological parameters are determined to investigate the regularity of alfalfa moisture evaporation during drying process and the main factors of alfalfa drying rate.Results showed that in the natural drying process,alfalfa drying rate was initially fast then slow;alfalfa hay would get damp and lose nutrients overnight.Fracturing stalk process could accelerate the drying process of alfalfa effectively.This process shortened the drying time about 24 hours but the compressed alfalfa damped more easily than control.The drying rate of alfalfa had extremely significant positive correlation with solar radiation intensity,air temperature and wind speed,but had extremely significant negative correlation with air humidity and atmosphere water potential and had no significant positive correlation with alfalfa moisture.The influence factors of alfalfa drying rate were ordered as solar radiation intensityair temperatureatmosphere water potentialair humiditywind speedalfalfa moisture.