Factors related to productivity and persistence of lucerne (Medicago sativa) genotypes with different fall dormancy levels: a review

Abstract

The lucerne productive and nutritional potential make it the most used forage legume worldwide. This wide use leads genetic improvement programs to increasingly select the main requirements for a given edaphoclimatic condition. However, in Brazil, the research on genetic improvement of lucerne has been limited over the years, which has hindered the production of this species and the domination of other legumes in animal production, as estilosantes and pigeon pea. This literature review aimed to present results from countries such as New Zealand and Australia that lead the world ranking, as weel as Argentina, in the cultivation of this crop and that can be used as showcase to understand the management of lucerne. From extensive bibliometry analyses in the period between 1963 and 2021, variables as persistence and phyllochron in these countries indicate that it is possible to produce lucerne with similar productivity, longevity and quality in Brazil. Nevertheless, to leverage this production, not only genetic improvement should be aimed, but also research and dissemination of knowledge on the ideal management of defoliation and, mainly, on the choice of the genotype and dormancy level to be cropped by the producer.

Sustainable Management of Medicago sativa for Future Climates: Insect Pests, Endophytes and Multitrophic Interactions in a Complex Environment

“…As the demand for meat-based proteins increases in response to human population growth, so too has the environmental limits under which M. sativa is being grown. This has led to evaluation of genotypes adapted for subtropical conditions (Acharya et al, 2020;Hoppen et al, 2022), for both high altitude and latitude (Shi et al, 2017), and environments with high temperature and low soil moisture (del Pozo et al, 2017;Lemaire et al, 2019).…”