ABSTRACT
Alfalfa, known also as lucerne (Medicago sativa), is an important forage crop. It originated in a prehistoric period in the region of what is now Persia and spread to southern Europe. It traveled with the expansion of the Roman Empire to all of Western Europe and North Africa, and at the same time moved east through Asia. With the Spanish conquest, it was transplanted to South and then North America. It is a perennial of high nutritive value for horses and cattle and furnishes many cuttings per year. Although its regional distribution covers all of the northern and southern temperate zones, it is widely grown in regions of rainfall deficiency, such as the western U.S., northern Mexico, the west coast of South America, Australia, North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, and Asia Minor. Under irrigation it generally produces higher yields than the rain-fed crop, and alfalfa is, in fact, the most important irrigated fodder crop in the world. Alfalfa has often been selected as the medium for many experiments on plant-soil-water relationships, as well as on irrigation methods.
