Characteristics of alfalfa grown in saline-alkali land and its utilization in the diet of ruminants

Medicago sativa has strong stress resistance and wide adaptability and plays an important role in the production of forage in salinized land. To provide a reference for the planting and widespread utilization of alfalfa in saline-alkali lands, this study reviewed the planting experiments of 19 alfalfa varieties in saline-alkali lands. The results showed that ‘WL343HQ’ had the highest over-wintering rate (98.20%), whereas ‘Sandeli’ had the lowest (57.67%). The tallest plants were ‘Alfaqueen’ (71.41 cm) and ‘Caoyuan No.2’ (71.12 cm), while the shortest was ‘Caoyuan No.3’ (57.50 cm). The highest hay yield was observed for ‘Caoyuan No.2’ (12.94 t·ha⁻¹), while ‘Reindeer’ achieved the lowest (7.35 t·ha⁻¹). ‘Alfaking’ exhibited the highest crude protein content, at 24.25%, while Reindeer exhibited the highest crude fat content, at 6.40%. The varieties with neutral detergent fiber content ≤ 40% were ‘54V09’ ‘Adrenalin’ ‘Aoghan’ ‘Alfalfa’ ‘King’, and ‘Zhongmu No.1’ with ‘Aoghan’ exhibiting the highest neutral detergent fiber and ash contents, at 39.09% and 6.47%, respectively. The calcium content of all varieties ranged from 1.63% to 2.38%, with ‘Caoyuan No.3’ exhibiting the highest content. The total phosphorus content ranged from 0.17% to 0.70%, with ‘Reindeer’ exhibiting the highest content. The results showed that an increase in the proportion of alfalfa in the diet can promote the growth of livestock and poultry. In addition, replacing ordinary alfalfa on the diet with saline-alkali alfalfa can achieve similar effects. In summary, among the tested varieties, it was preliminarily concluded that ‘Caoyuan No.2’ and ‘WL343HQ’ exhibited outstanding performance and had good traits, making them suitable for planting in saline-alkali land.