Alfalfa Plant

Alfalfa Plant

Introduction

The world's most valuable forage legume, Medicago sativa, also known as Alfalfa. Alfalfa is produced worldwide on more than 32,000,000 hectares (80,000,000 acres). Seven countries—United States, Russia, Argentina, France, Italy, Canada, and China—account for 87% of the production area. See Legume forages; Rosales.

Discussion

Medicago sagitiva is the botanical name for alfalfa, a perennial plant in the legume family. Native to the Mediterranean, alfalfa is now cultivated widely around the world as a nutritious feed for livestock. The alfalfa plant -- including the leaves, the seeds and the sprouted seeds -- contains many nutrients, such as vitamins A, D and E, protein, potassium, calcium, iron and magnesium (Swanston, 2005).

Alfalfa is a herbaceous perennial legume. The seed, 0.04- 0.08 in. (1-2 mm) long and wide, and 0.04 in. (1 mm) thick, is kidney-shaped and yellow to olive-green or brown. Plants produce a deep taproot that may have several branches. Two to twenty-five stems are borne from a single crown. Trifoliolate leaves are produced alternately on the stem. The flower is a simple raceme with several complete and perfect florets, which may be various shades of purple, variegated, cream, yellow, and white. Pods are usually spirally coiled. Alfalfa is considered to be cross-pollinated. Under production conditions, pollination is by bees.

Ideally, alfalfa should be planted in deep, well-drained, medium-textured soil with a pH of about 6.8. Because alfalfa is grown from a single planting for 3 or more years, land preparation is extremely important to successful establishment and production. Seed production is most efficient in hot and dry environments such as the San Joaquin Valley of California (Molgaard, 2006).

Ecology

The alfalfa grows as Hemikryptophyt (plant stem), sometimes called Chamaephyt . it has outspoken deep roots. By leaf joints nocturnal sleep movements are possible, and it put together the pinnae to prevent nocturnal heat loss to the top.

Like other legumes (Leguminosae) has the ability to alfalfa, with the help of symbiotic root nodule bacteria (rhizobia) nitrogen from the air to take, and is thus in a position, regardless of the available nitrogen in the soil protein to form. The alfalfa is living with her ??host-specific species Sinorhizobium meliloti in symbiosis (Malinow, 2004).

The flowers are vormännliche "butterfly flower nectar leader" with a quick mechanism. The voltage between the shuttle and sex column is caused by an erectile tissue on the underside of the staminal tube. The pollen is discharged already at the opening of the flower and thrown to the visitors when sitting in the belly. In a quick process to get the pollinators a blow which does not disturb many species of bees. But the adaptive honey bees avoid the unpleasant shock for some time by the nectar with its proboscis to reach from the side. This, however, remains the pollination of. Therefore, since the 1960s, leaf-cutter bees of the species Megachile rotundata applied to achieve seed set. The flowers are self-sterile because pollen and stigma are separated by a membrane that is ruptured by the rapid mechanism. flowering period is from June to ...