Table 2 Changes of two N treatment systems on fresh nodule weight per plant (PNW) and single nodule weight (SNW) of alfalfa with no root-barrier (A-T), nylon mesh barrier (NA-T), plastic barrier (PA-T) and sole alfalfa (SA), at branching stage, budding stage, and initial flowering stage.

N treatment	Cropping system	Branching		Budding		Initial flowering
N treatment	Cropping system	PNW (mg plant⁻¹)	SNW (mg)	PNW (mg plant⁻¹)	SNW (mg)	PNW (mg plant⁻¹)	SNW (mg)
N₂₁₀	SA	1.65 ± 0.10^bc	0.13 ± 0.01^ab	2.45 ± 0.10^b	0.18 ± 0.01^bc	3.67 ± 0.11^c	0.19 ± 0.01^ab
	A-T	2.55 ± 0.14^a	0.17 ± 0.00^a	3.61 ± 0.19^a	0.20 ± 0.00^a	5.39 ± 0.20^a	0.22 ± 0.01^a
	NA-T	1.99 ± 0.18^b	0.14 ± 0.01^ab	3.18 ± 0.08^a	0.19 ± 0.01^ab	4.50 ± 0.19^b	0.20 ± 0.00^ab
	SA-T	1.29 ± 0.09^c	0.10 ± 0.01^b	2.22 ± 0.20^b	0.16 ± 0.01^c	3.47 ± 0.12^c	0.19 ± 0.01^b
N₂₁	SA	4.16 ± 0.09^bc	0.30 ± 0.02^a	5.37 ± 0.16^c	0.33 ± 0.01^a	7.89 ± 0.21^b	0.35 ± 0.01^a
	A-T	5.60 ± 0.17^a	0.32 ± 0.01^a	7.65 ± 0.10^a	0.35 ± 0.02^a	9.25 ± 0.22^a	0.37 ± 0.00^a
	NA-T	5.08 ± 0.52^ab	0.32 ± 0.02^a	6.39 ± 0.25^b	0.34 ± 0.01^a	7.93 ± 0.29^b	0.36 ± 0.03^a
	SA-T	3.85 ± 0.33^c	0.28 ± 0.03^a	4.91 ± 0.15^c	0.31 ± 0.03^a	7.19 ± 0.38^b	0.34 ± 0.02^a
LSD (0.05)		0.86	0.57	0.80	0.06	0.05	0.06
Significance (p value)
N treatment (N)		0.000^**	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.000^**
Cropping system (C)		0.000^**	0.030^**	0.009^**	0.111	0.000^**	0.434
N × C		0.531	0.806	0.06	0.982	0.424	0.997

Note: LSD means with different letters in the same column are significantly different at P < 0.05. N₂₁ and N₂₁₀ represent 21 mg L⁻¹ and 210 mg L⁻¹ nitrogen. Branching, budding and initial flowering stage were 60, 75, and 90 days after seedling emergence of alfalfa, respectively. Here, ^* and ^** represent significance at 0.05 and 0.01 levels.

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