Breeding Alfalfa as a Dry Land Crop

Alfalfa: Crop for the Future

Alfalfa use by dairy cattle has decreased in recent years because of excessive nonprotein nitrogen and low fiber digestibility. Ideal attributes for plant modification of alfalfa may include those that increase milk potential per acre and/or per ton, enhance digestible NDF, improve protein content and amino acid balance, improve agronomic traits for insect protection (safer forage supply), herb...

Applied Genetics and Genomics in Alfalfa Breeding

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), a perennial and outcrossing species, is a widely planted forage legume for hay, pasture and silage throughout the world. Currently, alfalfa breeding relies on recurrent phenotypic selection, but alternatives incorporating molecular marker assisted breeding could enhance genetic gain per unit time and per unit cost, and accelerate alfalfa improvement. Many major qua...

Breeding Bees to the Crop

Does land irrigation actually reduce foraging habitat for breeding lesser kestrels? The role of crop types

The lesser kestrel is a Globally Threatened Species which large decline has been related to recent agricultural changes in European pseudo-steppes. Irrigation is considered as one of the major threats for this and other steppe birds, but the actual effects of irrigation on foraging habitat selection have been scarcely examined. We studied the selection of traditional dry cereal farming and irri...

Sustainable domestic effluent reuse via Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI): alfalfa as a perennial model crop.

Scarcity of fresh high-quality water has heightened the importance of wastewater reuse primarily in dry regions together with improving its efficient use by implementing the Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) method. Sustainable effluent reuse combines soil and plant aspects, along with the maintainability of the application system. In this study, field experiments were conducted for two years on...