BACKGROUND Feeding alfalfa hay is often recommended for its buffering components, like protein and calcium, to prevent lesions of the gastric mucosa in horses. Until now, there has been no information regarding the influence of alfalfa particle size on the gastric mucosa. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding two alfalfa preparations with different particle sizes (alfa...

A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of inoculation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus caledonium and/or Rhizobium meliloti on phytoremediation of an agricultural soil contaminated with weathered PCBs by alfalfa grown for 180 days. Planting alfalfa (P), alfalfa inoculated with G. caledonium (P + AM), alfalfa inoculated with R. meliloti (P + R), and alfalfa co-inocula...

Transgenic plants expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) of virus origin have been previously shown to confer resistance to virus infections through the highly conserved RNA-targeting process termed RNA silencing or RNA interference (RNAi). In this study we applied this strategy to soybean plants and achieved robust resistance to multiple viruses with a single dsRNA-expressing transgene. Unlike...

The alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), is a serious, yet sporadic defoliator of alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., in Nebraska. A 2-yr study was conducted in 2005 and 2006 to test for variation in degree-day requirements by location in eastern Nebraska. Sampling took place along a latitudinal gradient in three regions of eastern Nebraska. Three fields were sampled in each region during the 2...

Birdsfoot trefoil is a high-quality forage recommended for irrigated perennial pastures, either in mixtures with grasses or in pure stands. In this bulletin we report on the forage nutritive value of pure stands of birdsfoot trefoil harvested at 6week intervals, and compare it to alfalfa harvested at the same intervals. We found that the digestibility of the two forages was similar, but that al...

Integrated pest management in alfalfa continues to be challenged by changes in the pests, alfalfa production system, environmental conditions, and other undetermined factors. Many of the underlying principles of integrated pest management (IPM) were developed from research conducted in the alfalfa system in the 1960-80’s. However, as indicated by challenges in controlling alfalfa weevil larvae ...

Transgenic alfalfa over-expressing a nodule-enhanced malate dehydrogenase (neMDH) cDNA and untransformed alfalfa plants were grown at the same field site and rhizosphere soils collected after 53 weeks of plant growth. These alfalfa lines differ in the amount and composition of root organic acids produced and exuded into the rhizosphere. Nucleotide sequencing of PCR-based 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA...

Alfalfa is one of the most important legume forage crops in the world. In spite of its agronomic and nutritive advantages, alfalfa has some limitations in the usage of pasture forage and hay supplement. High rapid degradation of protein in alfalfa poses a risk of rumen bloat to ruminants which could cause huge economic losses for farmers. Coupled with the relatively high lignin content, which i...

Alfalfa was harvested as silage or hay and fed in two 12-wk trials with a 4 x 4 Latin square design that used 12 (trial 1) or 24 (trial 2) multiparous lactating cows (4 ruminally cannulated cows per trial). Diets contained (dry matter basis) 75 or 50% alfalfa plus 24 of 40% high moisture corn (trial 1) or 50% alfalfa, 44 or 41% high moisture corn, with (3%) or without fish meal (trial 2). Exper...

K. Fukuyama, S. S. Abdel-Meguid, J. E. Johnson, and M. G. Rossmann (J. Mol. Biol. 167:873-984, 1983) reported the structure of alfalfa mosaic virus assembled from the capsid protein as a T=1 icosahedral empty particle at 4.5-A resolution. The information contained in the structure included the particle size, protein shell thickness, presence of wide holes at the icosahedral fivefold axes, and a...