In order to obtain a salt-tolerant perennial alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), we transferred the halophyte Salicornia europaea L. Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene, SeNHX1, to alfalfa by using the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. The transformants were confirmed by both PCR and RT-PCR analyses. Of 197 plants that were obtained after transformation, 36 were positive by PCR analysis using 2 pr...

This study was performed on an alfalfa crop located on the central plain of La Araucanía Region, Chile and in the Laboratorio de Entomología Aplicada de la Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales at the Universidad de La Frontera. Certain aspects of the biology of Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were determined, more specifically in relation to its life cycle, s...

Advances in alfalfa [Medicago sativa (L.) subsp. sativa] breeding, molecular genetics, and genomics have been slow because this crop is an allogamous autotetraploid (2n = 4x = 32) with complex polysomic inheritance and few genomic resources. Increasing cellulose and decreasing lignin in alfalfa stem cell walls would improve this crop as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock. We conducted genome-wide a...

Medicago sativa, alfalfa or lucerne, and M. arborea were considered reproductively isolated until recently. Then, in 2003, an alfalfa genotype was identified that produced a few seeds and progeny with hybrid traits after a large number of pollinations by M. arborea. A derivative of this alfalfa genotype also produced a low frequency of progeny with hybrid traits. Thus, the hybridization barrier...

this study was conducted to determine the chemical composition, digestibility, degradability and nutritive value of madder, rubia tinctorum l.  and alfalfa medicago sativa. using in vitro and in situ measurements. the mean values for om, cp, ndf, adf and ee were 892.5, 172.0, 306.5, 219.4 and 16.0 g/kg dm for madder hay, and 921.3, 141.4, 482.0, 361.1 and 6.50 g/kg dm for alfalfa hay, respectiv...

An adenylate cyclase activity in Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa) roots was partially characterized. The enzyme activity remains in the supernatant fluid after centrifugation at 105,000 g and shows in crude extracts an apparent Mr of about 84,000. The enzyme is active with Mg2+ and Ca2+ as bivalent cations, and is inhibited by EGTA and by chlorpromazine. Calmodulin from bovine brain or spinach leav...

The composition of phosphorus-containing compounds of intact lyophilized alfalfa tissue has been determined, in part, by solid-state (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance. The tissue (Medicago sativa L., cv Regen S; and some of its crosses) was grown in culture under both nonregenerating and regenerating conditions, the latter enhanced by the addition of specific amino acids. Analysis of the (31)P n...