Alfalfa: The Queen of Forages Positively Impacting Livestock, Pollinators, and Soil Health

Overview:

Lucerne or alfalfa Medicago sativa, nitrogen-fixing in nature, is grown as a cover crop or fodder crop in agroecosystems. It is palatable to ruminants and positively impacts milk yield in lactating cattle and muscle mass in beef cattle as it has a good deal of calcium and protein. Leaves have protein and digestible fiber, while stems have indigestible fiber. Research is going on to improve stem digestibility. Alfalfa is a cross-pollinated plant, and its best seed production depends on the pollinators' visits.

Botanical characteristics:

Medicago sativa belongs to the fabaceae family and order fabales. Its leaves are palmately compound. One leaf is divided into three leaflets. The flowering pattern is a raceme, and kidney-shaped seeds are formed in pods.

As fodder Crop:

Alfalfa is a perennial crop, also known as the queen of forages, that can be harvested multiple times and regrows after cutting. It is cultivated on around 30 million hectares, with a total production of around 450 million tons globally. It fixes nitrogen in the soil with the help of Sinorhizobium meliloti?and improves soil fertility. It is grown from October to November for fodder and from October to November for seed production in Pakistan.

Insect pests:

In agroecosystems, insect pests target crops due to monoculture and uniform growth stages. Aphids, stink bugs, alfalfa weevils and potato leafhoppers are some insect pests of this crop. Stink bugs A. lineolatus is a polyphagous insect pest of alfalfa pods.?A. It has the potential to reduce seed production by 50%. ?The alfalfa weevil Hypera posticais is another insect pest of alfalfa crops). It feeds voraciously causes leaf defoliation and reduces fodder yield.?Potato Leafhopper Empoasca fabae suck sap from the plant body. The symptom that appears on the plant is the tip of leaves getting yellow, and a reduction in internodes and stem height.?

Insect Pollinators:

Insect pollination is essential for the sustainability of both agricultural and natural ecosystems since 87% of flowering plants and nearly 35% of crops worldwide are dependent on insect and other pollinators. Alfalfa is a cross pollinated crop so it depends on pollinators. Insect pollinator species like Apis. florea,? Apis cerana, A. dorsata,?Megachile lanata,?M. rotundata,?M. abluta,?M. bicolor, Andrena lebedevi, Nomia melanderi,?Eristalinus obliquus, E. ?megacephalus and Xylocopa?sp., have been observed in pollinating alfalfa according to published literature. Solitary are the most efficient pollinators for alfalfa seed production.