Research in the genetic engineering of alfalfa is currently underway to improve alfalfa for traits such as tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses, forage quality, and herbicide resistance. Alfalfa is also being engineered to produce novel compounds for industrial and diagnostic purposes. This research will likely lead to the production of improved cultivars, as well as new uses for alfalfa.

The potato leafhopper (PLH) is the most serious insect pest of alfalfa in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. PLH injury to alfalfa can result in leaf yellowing (“hopperburn”), plant stunting, loss of yield and forage quality, and reduced alfalfa stand persistence. Leafhopper populations are a perennial problem in new alfalfa seedings, and they frequently increase to damaging levels on the second ...

SUMMARY Feeding trials were conducted on three groups of chicks in eight lots receiving a growing mash containing dehydrated alfalfa m eal at levels of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, O, 12, and 15 per cent. Comparisons were not made simultaneously but no general trend toward growth d e-press ion was evident in comparable lots. In addition duplicate trials of four lots of n ewly hatched New H ampshire chicks...

A study was conducted to evaluate effects of alfalfa meal on growth performance and gastrointestinal tract development of growing layer ducks to provide evidence for application of alfalfa meal in the duck industry. Two hundred and fifty-six healthy Shaoxing 7-wk old growing layer ducks were selected and randomly allocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments based on corn and soybean meal and containi...

The objective of this study was to compare utilization of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) by lactating dairy cows. Red clover and alfalfa were harvested and conserved as silage at two maturities in 2 consecutive yr. Each year, diets containing experimental forages and supplemental grain were fed to 16 multiparous Holstein cows in early lactation in a replicat...

Alfalfa and orchardgrass herbages of similar digestibility were harvested at early and late maturity from primary growth and conserved as direct-cut silage using formic acid and formaldehyde simultaneously. Major compositional differences between the silages were lower NDF (principally hemicellulose) and a greater N content in alfalfa than in orchardgrass. An initial group of eight steers was s...

Alfalfa hay is a major crop supporting U.S ruminant livestock industry, particularly dairy. Several cellulosic feedstocks will be needed to meet current ethanol production goals. Alfalfa has considerable potential as a feedstock for production of ethanol and other industrial materials because of its high biomass production, perennial nature, ability to provide its own nitrogen fertilizer, and v...

Alfalfa is the most extensively cultivated forage legume, yet most alfalfa cultivars are not aluminum tolerant, and the molecular mechanisms underlying alfalfa responses to Al stress are largely unknown. In this study, we aimed to understand how alfalfa responds to Al stress by identifying and analyzing Al-stress-responsive genes in alfalfa roots at the whole-genome scale. The transcriptome cha...

Grazing alfalfa with dairy or beef animals is not a common practice in California or even in the United States. Although a limited number of alfalfa acres are grazed in the humid Midwest and East, it is rare in the West, and the ruminant alfalfa forage systems throughout the United States consist of hayand haylage-based harvest methods. However, there is increased interest in grazing in North A...

The potato leafhopper (PLH) is the most serious insect pest of alfalfa in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. PLH injury to alfalfa can result in leaf yellowing (“hopperburn”), plant stunting, loss of yield and forage quality, and reduced alfalfa stand persistence. Leafhopper populations are a perennial problem in new alfalfa seedings, and they frequently increase to damaging levels on the second ...