ABSTRACT
Alfalfa is a very challenging crop to breed because of its complicated genetics and self-breeding restrictions. Therefore, development of new cultivars is usually done as a population. Strategies have included breeding for resistance to pests and diseases, resistance to abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, and heat, and breeding for increased biomass, protein content, and forage quality. Successes have been variable, but quality-breeding programs are successfully introducing important genetic traits into local populations that are beginning to address some of these problems.
