Abstract: Through the analysis of alfalfa drying processing technology, the hot-air drying characteristics of internal forced-air alfalfa bales were studied based on wet harvesting processing technology. In order to improve the drying efficiency of internal forced-air alfalfa bales, the drying process was optimized, and the internal forced-air drying process and process control parameters for alfalfa bales were determined based on experimental data of drying characteristics. The effects of different drying temperatures on moisture content and drying rate of alfalfa bales were tested when the drying hot air volume was 2 500 m~3/h, 3 000 m~3/h and 3 600 m~3/h remained unchanged. The experimental results showed that before optimizing the bale drying process, when the drying air volume was 3 600 m~3/h and the drying temperature was 120 ℃, the drying time of the bale was 37.5 min, and the energy consumption was 160 kWh/t. The bale drying quality reached the first-class standard. After optimizing the process, the staged drying process was used. When the drying air volume was 3 600 m~3/h and the drying temperature was set to 120 ℃, the drying efficiency of the bale increased by nearly 20%, energy consumption was saved by 12.5%, and there was no significant difference in bale quality. Therefore, the optimized drying process effectively maintained the nutritional quality of alfalfa and significantly improved the drying efficiency of alfalfa bales and the thermal efficiency of internal forced-air hot-air drying, providing technical support for large-scale production of alfalfa drying.