ABSTRACT
Alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., is one of the most important forage crops in the world and is the most important forage legume in the United States. Alfalfa is cultivated on 32 million ha worldwide, with U.S. production concentrated in the upper Midwest, the Great Plains, and the desert Southwest (1). Although alfalfa is primarily used for ruminant livestock feed as hay, silage, green chop, and pasture, a number of nontraditional uses of alfalfa are being investigated, including as a bioreactor for the production of industrial enzymes (2) or other products via transgenesis and as a bioenergy crop.
