Alfalfa Variety Trial Database, 1986-1999

<p>The dataset contain archived copy of the Alfalfa Variety Performance Database originally compiled in 2000 by Daniel W. Wiersma and Wayne G. Hartman that contains forage yield and quality results, and plant stand estimates from over 700 alfalfa variety tests conducted by researchers in the US and Canada from 1986 through 1999. The database was used to analyze long-term trends in genetic improvement of alfalfa yield and agronomic performance.</p>

<p>Data were originally compiled in an Access database. This publication contains the database both in the Access database format (*.mdb) and as mysql dump (*mysql). The *.mdb file was fully operational in the version Access 2019 and the mysql data were successfully inserted into a MySQL data prior to their archiving. In addition, the data in individual tables were exported as a set of twenty one CSV files (plus two edited files) that were also preserved in this dataset.</p>

<p>Four additional datasets were created from the database tables and published in PURR. The alfalfa variety metadata dataset contains descriptors and characteristic of over 2900 alfalfa varieties and experimental lines used in these variety trials. Three companion datasets extracted from the original  database contain the yield, forage quality, and stand persistence data.</p>