Alfalfa Varieties for the Future

When breeding tomorrow’s alfalfa varieties, most groups employ a model of combining traditional plant breeding with biotechnology tools in order to incorporate useful traits. In this model, the conventional variety development process will be the method of choice for most traits where breeders have traditionally made progress such as adaptation, heading date, disease and insect resistance, general persistence conditions such as grazing and traffic tolerance, and even yield. It has been very successful in adding economic value to the forage and livestock operations of many producers (Bouton 2007). These traditionally developed varieties will also be used as the germplasm platform on which to add or incorporate the new and exciting traits to be discussed in this presentation. Finally, traditional breeding will also be the method of choice where the sales and on-farm value of the species do not justify the use of biotechnology (Bouton, 2007)