| Summary: | Recycling broiler litter (BL) nutrients is an important strategy for sustainable forage production. However, BL can contain <i>Clostridia</i> bacteria that can contaminate forages at harvest, resulting in poor ensilage quality and botulism-related animal health risks. A better understanding of the effects of BL amendment on alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i> L.) production and ensiling is beneficial for promoting manure-based alfalfa production. This 2-year study examined the effects of high-level BL (HBL) at 112 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> and low-level (LBL) at 56 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> on alfalfa forage production, fermentation characteristics, and <i>Clostridium botulinum</i> concentrations in silage and haylage produced from 350 g dry matter (DM) kg<sup>−1</sup> forage and 500 g DM kg<sup>−1</sup> forage respectively, and soil characteristics compared to a control treatment (CT). Results showed that the application of BL did not affect forage production (12.8–13.1 MG ha<sup>−1</sup>) and nutritive value. The alfalfa produced high forage yield with superior ensilabilty in the second year. The BL application increased soil NH<sub>4</sub>-N, Ca, Fe, and B, but did not affect fermentation characteristics or <i>Clostridium botulinum</i> concentrations in ensilage. Silage had superior fermentation quality, and <i>Clostridium botulinum</i> concentration was found to be higher than in haylage. Broiler litter fertilization for alfalfa is environmentally safe and has forge production, ensilage fermentation quality, and botulism risks similar to CT.
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