Botanical name: Medicago sativa L.
Origin: It is generally believed that Lucerne (alfalfa) originated in South West Asia. It was introduced in India from north-west sometimes in 1900 and has become quite a popular green forage crop.
Family: Leguminosae

Economic important
Lucerne crop is one of the most important fodder crops of India called as "queen" among fodder of "green gold". Being a deep-rooted crop, Lucerne extracts water from the deeper zone of the soil. It can be grown both as annual as well as perennial crop. This crop may supply green fodder continuously for 3 to 4 years from the same field as perennial crop. It yields nutritive and palatable fodder, which contains about 15 to 20% crude protein with 72% digestibility (dry weight basis) and high amount of vitamins A, B, and D. Since, Lucerne is a rich feed; it should be used only in small quantities. When, it fed to animals in excess of green fodder Lucerne causes “bloat” in cattle. Therefore, start with a small quantity of green feed in the beginning and than gradually by increases the quantity. Feeding of Lucerne hay may replace use of grains and concentrates. Lucerne hay is particularly rich in protein, calcium and vitamins. Lucerne crop supplies green fodder for a longer period in comparison to Berseem. Lucerne being a leguminous crop, adds about 194 kg N/ha to the soil.

Land preparation
A line seedbed and good tilth is important for Lucerne cultivation. After the harvest of Kharif crop, land should be prepared by one mould board ploughing followed by repeated "Desi” ploughings or one tractor ploughing followed by disc harrowing or by tractor cultivator. Stubbles of the previous crop should be removed and land should be levelled with the help of rake and made into rectangular compartments for uniform irrigations and proper drainage. Land should be laid out into beds of the size 2.5 to 3.0 m in wide and 8.0 to 10.0 m in length according to the slope of field.
Time of sowing
15th November (second week of November) is the most appropriate time of sowing. However, sowing can be done from 15th October to 15th November.
Method of sowing
This crop should be sown by broadcasting or drilling method. Seed should be sown 1 to 1.5 cm depth.
Seed rate
1) For annual crop - 10 kg seeds/ha
2) For perennial crop - 15 kg seeds/ha

Seed treatment
Seed should be treated with seresan or thiram and then it should be inoculated with suitable strain of Rhizobium culture (Rhizobium meliloti, 1.0 to 1.25 kg of culture/ha) before sowing for fast growth, easy germination and more yields.

Spacing
Lucerne should be sown at 25 cm row spacing for easy interculturing operations. Perennial crop should be sown at 25 cm row distance.

Manures and fertilizers
30 to 40 CL (15 to 20 t/ha) well decomposed FYM should be mixed properly in the soil at the time of land preparation.

20-50-50 kg NPK/ha As basal application

Irrigation
The water requirement of Lucerne is high. The hard seeds absorbed moisture very slowly and often fail to germinate uniformly. Thus, two light irrigations within a week after sowing are useful (one just after sowing) and subsequent irrigations up to February should be given at an interval of 10-12 days and in summer season, apply with an interval of 7 - 8 days. The water requirement of Lucerne is more and if the interval between two successive irrigations is prolonged, the green forage yield of Lucerne will be decreased drastically. Though Lucerne is very hardy and can survive dry conditions for its growth. Lucerne is sensitive to soil saturation immediately after grazing or mowing in hot weather because of minimum foliage and substantial rise of surface temperature of soil to decrease re-growth.
The farmers of middle Gujarat growing Lucerne for forage production are also advised to give irrigation through sprinkler method for saving of 15% water and for getting 24% higher income as compared to surface method of irrigation. The irrigation interval should be about 11-12 days up to January, 8-10 days during February and about a week during March-April. The sprinkler system should be laid at 12 m x 12 m spacing and should be operated at a pressure 2.5 kg/cm2 for 2.5 hours to achieve 40 mm depth of irrigation water.
The Farmers of South Gujarat heavy rainfall zone are advised to give irrigations to Lucerne through sprinkler with IW/CPE ratio of 0.7 for maximum saving of water (35%) and additional net income (21%) with the same quantity of water used as surface method. The sprinkler system should be laid at 12 m x 12 m spacing and should be operated at a pressure of 2.5 kg/cm2 in order to get an application rate of 1.67 cm/hr. The set should be operated for 3 hours per irrigation for a total application of 50 mm. The irrigation interval during winter months (December to February) should be about 17 to 19 days, while 10 to 13 days during summer months (March to May).

Weed control
Crop should be kept weed free by hand weeding operations. Weeding should be done after each cut. If the line sowing is done, the interculturing operations should be done either by hand or bullock drawn hoe. In case of infestation of dodder (Cuscuta reflexa Roxb.) parasite weed, dodder infested plants along with dodder should be uprooted and removed from the field and then burnt them. Then spot treatment should be given @ 0.1% Paraquat at later crop stage. For control of dodder, clean seeds are important.
The research work carried out at Anand revealed that frequent mechanical removal of dodder reduced the fodder yield up to 20% and if dodder is not removed, the reduction goes up to 50%.
Research work at Weed Control Scheme, Anand showed that one spray of pendimethalin @ 0.5 kg/ha in 500 l of water after 10 to 12 days of sowing effectively controls the dodder infestation in Lucerne crop. This method also checks other weeds and no residual effect of herbicide are obtained in green fodder.

Inter and mixed cropping
Generally Lucerne is taken as a seasonal crop from November to June in the country and it can therefore be well rotated with Kharif crops like paddy, maize, sorghum and pearl millet. It is also grown as inter crop with hybrid Napier, Guinea and Anjan grasses. Early availability of fodder is possible by sowing oats with Lucerne as a mixed crop in cross way.