The Review of Grazing Alfalfa Varieties

Grazing alfalfa pasture is very popular with its low cost,high forage quality and good animal performance for animal producer.Alfalfa has been utilized as hay production for a long time.However,the grazing tolerance of many hay alfalfa varieties is poor.So development of alfalfa varieties with grazing tolerance is very important for the plant breeders.The grazing tolerance varieties released in US and Canada have high grazing tolerance,high resistance of pests and diseases,good palatability and high yield since 1990.This review mainly includes the characters of grazing tolerance alfalfa varieties,breeding criterions and processes,also evaluation system of grazing tolerance.The purpose of this review is to improve the development of alfalfa varieties breeding with grazing tolerance in the future in China.