FORAGE CONDITIONING UNDER ALPINE ENVIRONMENTAL-CONDITIONS

In mountain areas the location of the field can affect the climatic an d vegetative conditions, and the operational characteristics of forage harvesters, thus influencing the effectiveness of crop conditioning. A method was established to compare the results from successive harves ts through forage conditioning trials, carried out according to the ve getation and operational conditions of the field. A conditioning coeff icient, defined by the relationship between the conditioned and non-co nditioned forage, was used to define the effect of conditioning on the moisture evaporation process. Forage conditioning was found to be hig hly effective on fields where the combined effect of slope and exposur e was to increase the intensity and duration of solar radiation; the b enefit of forage conditioning was severely reduced in other cases.