Medicago sativa

Lucerne, alfalfa, purple medick, snail clover, Chilean clover

Deep-rooted perennial herb with a thick trunk root, occurring in a wide range of varieties. From the root crown arise a number of stems carrying trifoliate leaves and purple flowers in clusters of ten to seventy. Demands sunshine and tolerates high temperatures as long as they are not combined with high air moisture.

Lucerne is generally grown alone but can also be mixed with grasses or other legumes. It is used for green fodder, for hay or silage, and for pasture, although it does not tolerate close grazing well. It is extensively sown under irrigation. The leaves are highly nutritive and are often dried for 2.5-5% inclusion in animal feeds as a source of vitamin A and other nutrients. During gestation and lactation a minimum of 10% lucerne leaf meal is usually included in the diet of sows. Unfortunately, the leaves are easily lost in haymaking. Good hay can be machine threshed so that the stems can serve as roughage, and the leaves can be used in concentrate mixtures. Sun-cured leaves contain less vitamin A than artificially dried leaves but provide vitamin D instead. Where lucerne can easily be grown, it is regarded as a key forage for high-producing ruminants because of its richness in protein, palatability and high calcium and vitamin content. In many cases supplements are not required by animals feeding on lucerne. It should be harvested before full bloom; the nutritive value and digestibility are lower after bloom. It can be used as pasture also for pigs and poultry.

As % of dry matter

DM

CP

CF

Ash

EE

NFE

Ca

P

Ref

Fresh, 1-year-old

stand, Iraq

20.3

17.1

19.4

12.6

2.7

48.2

196

Fresh, 2-year-old

stand, Iraq

21.4

16.5

21.3

11.5

2.8

47.9

"

Fresh, 3-year-old

stand, Iraq

21.4

16.2

22.3

10.8

2.7

48.0

"

Fresh, 1 month,

India

24.5

16.2

15.7

2.6

41.0

1.96

0.42

436

Fresh, 2 months,

India

20.3

25.7

14.8

3.1

36.1

2.24

0.35

"

Fresh, 3 months,

India

16.0

25.7

10.7

3.5

40.1

1.89

0.24

"

Fresh, first

cutting, Chile

20.9

14.4

30.6

8.1

2.9

44.0

1.74

0.17

315

Fresh, second

cutting, Chile

20.9

14.8

27.3

8.6

4.3

45.0

1.53

0.25

"

Fresh, pre-bloom,

Israel

17.0

25.3

23.5

11.8

2.9

36.5

2.41

0.35

365

Fresh, early bloom,

Israel

22.7

22.9

26.0

11.5

3.5

36.1

2.56

0.31

"

Fresh, mid-bloom,

Israel

29.0

19.0

30.0

10.3

3.4

37.3

1.76

0.24

"

Leaf meal, South

Africa

21.7

20.1

17.0

2.4

38.8

1.44

0.20

489

Stem meal,

Malaysia

88.1

11.5

30.4

7.7

1.0

49.4

0.51

0.34

292

Hay, pre-bloom,

South Africa

18.7

34.4

9.8

2.6

34.5

1.26

0.18

489

Hay, early bloom,

South Africa

17.0

38.2

8.7

2.5

33.6

1.20

0.18

"

Hay, mid-bloom,

South Africa

15.4

40.1

8.6

2.1

33.8

1.09

0.16

"

Silage, Chile

24.6

20.4

20.9

12.6

8.9

37.2

315

Digestibility (%)

Animal

CP

CF

EE

NFE

ME

Ref

Fresh, 1-year-old stand

Sheep

85.9

68.4

59.6

80.7

2.65

196

Fresh, 2-year-old stand

Sheep

87.4

79.5

55.6

76.7

2.68

"

Fresh, 3-year-old stand

Sheep

88.1

70.8

33.9

80.5

2.66

"

Fresh, pre-bloom

Sheep

89.0

45.0

50.0

76.0

2.47

365

Fresh, early bloom

Sheep

79.0

49.0

38.0

78.0

2.36

"

Fresh, mid-bloom

Sheep

69.0

45.0

50.0

61.0

2.01

"

Leaf meal

Sheep

79.4

59.9

0.0

77.7

2.27

489

Hay, pre-bloom

Sheep

75.9

50.6

29.6

71.4

2.19

"

Hay, early bloom

Sheep

74.1

51.0

25.4

68.1

2.12

"

Hay, mid-bloom

Sheep

74.2

51.0

21.0

68.7

2.10

"

Nylon bag degradability

a

b

c

12hr

48hr

Ref

(%)

(%)

(/hour)

(%)

(%)

Alfalfa meal, France

DM

39.3

36.6

0.0491

71.2

627

Alfalfa meal, Italy

DM

24.9

44.0

0.0352

59.2

"

[P (rumen degradability at time t) = a+b*(1-exp(-c*t))]

Amino acid composition as % of crude protein

Aerial part

Ref

505

Arg

Cys

Gly

Hys

Ils

Leu

Lys

Met

Phe

Thr

Try

Tyr

Val

4.5

1.1

4.5

1.8

3.9

6.6

4.3

0.9

4.1

4.0

1.5

3.3

5.1