The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a homolactic acid inoculant on ensiling characteristics and nutritive value of high dry matter (DM) alfalfa. The ensiling characteristics were determined by ensiling inoculated and untreated alfalfa haylage in mini-silos for 0, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 45 days. Two lactating cows fitted with ruminal fistulas were used to determine ruminal degra...

It is well established that the use of alfalfa in diets for monogastric animals is limited by its high fiber content. However, alfalfa is a natural source of xanthophylls and gives poultry products a desirably yellow color. In addition, alfalfa saponins may contribute to reduce the levels of cholesterol in the meat and egg yolk. We have investigated the potential utilization of β-glucanases and...

Alfalfa is the most productive and highest quality forage species. Over one million acres of alfalfa have been harvested each year in Montana since 1960. Yield and forage quality of alfalfa vary widely across environments and operations. Currently there is much interest in targeting specialized hay markets. Most Montana producers can consistently produce alfalfa that is of fair to good quality....

Twenty Naieni breed replacement ewe lambs were used to determine the substitution effects of treated wheat straw with exogenous fiber-degrading enzymes for alfalfa hay on wool characteristics. Five treatment diets were included: 1) control (100% alfalfa hay without wheat straw), 2) 10% enzyme treated wheat straw replaced for alfalfa hay, 3) 20% enzyme treated wheat straw replaced for alfalfa ha...

Unlike most crops which have moved east-west, alfalfa gained its fIrst important foothold in North America in the valleys and deserts of California in the 18505 after the Gold Rush. Alfalfa played a crucial role in the agriculture of California before the development of the high value fI11it and vegetable crops which now are widely associated with the state's agriculture. Although alfalfa acrea...

In 1986, it was shown that tobacco plants and sunflower calluses could express recombinant human growth hormone as a fusion protein [1]. Since then, a diverse range of plant systems has been used for the production of pharmaceuticals [2, 3]. We have developed a production system based on the leaves of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), a choice made originally because of the plant’s many favorable a...

BACKGROUND Alfalfa is the most widely cultivated forage legume and one of the most economically valuable crops in the world. The large size and complexity of the alfalfa genome has delayed the development of genomic resources for alfalfa research. Second-generation Illumina transcriptome sequencing is an efficient method for generating a global transcriptome sequence dataset for gene discovery ...

Materials and Methods The Neely-Kinyon Long-term Agroecological Research (LTAR) site was established in 1998 to study the long-term effects of organic production in Iowa. Treatments at the LTAR site, replicated four times in a completely randomized design, include the following rotations: conventional corn-soybean (C-S), organic corn-soybean-oats/alfalfa (C-S-O/A), organic corn-soybean-oats/alf...

Long-term persistence and sustained biomass yields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) stands are important to producers. Yield performance and persistence of intrasubspecific crosses between alfalfa subspecies sativa and falcata after the first post-establishment year are unknown. The objectives of this study were to measure biomass yields, persistence, and biomass yield stability in interand intr...

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) persistence and forage and cow-calf production were evaluated on pastures containing smooth bromegrass with or without grazing-tolerant or hay-type alfalfa cultivars rotationally stocked in either a season-long or complementary system. In 1997, six 2.02-ha pastures were seeded with smooth bromegrass, a mixture of a grazing-tolerant alfalfa (Amerigraze variety) and s...