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Alfalfa (family: Fabaceae, the pea family) is a genus of perennial flowering plant, Medicago, most commonly referring to M. sativa L., also called lucerne.

Alfalfa is a perennial plant, living from five to twelve years, depending on variety and climate. It is a cool season perennial legume, growing to a height of 1 metre. It resembles clover with clusters of small purple flowers. It also has a deep root system sometimes stretching to 4.5 meters. This makes it very resilient, especially to droughts.

Alfalfa is native to Europe being found worldwide and most likely originated in the middle east, probably in Iran. It is widely grown throughout the world as forage for cattleCattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products ( milk), leather and as draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some c most often harvested as hayAlternate meanings: Hay, New South Wales, Hay-on-Wye Hay is dried grass (and pasture flowers) used to feed domestic animals at places or times where there is not enough (fresh) grass. It is normally produced by cutting the pasture and let the mowing dry i having the highest feeding value of all common hay crops, being used less frequently as pasturePasture is land with lush herbaceous vegetation cover used for grazing of ungulates as part of a farm or ranch. Prior to the advent of mechanized farming, pasture was the primary source of food for cattle and sheep. It is still used to some degree. Advanc or haylage . Like other legumes, it has the ability to fix nitrogenThe nitrogen cycle is a biogeochemical cycle. It describes the transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. The major source of nitrogen is air, which is about 78 percent N by volume. Nitrogen is essential for many biogical pro, producing a high-protein feed regardless of available nitrogen in the soilSoil is the layer of minerals and organic matter, in thickness from centimetres to a metre or more, on the land surface. Its main components are mineral matter, organic matter, moisture, and air. Soils differ in the ratio of these components. Modern soil.

Its wide cultivation beginning in the seventeenth century was an important advance in European agriculture. Its nitrogen-fixing ability and use as animal feed greatly improved agricultural efficiency. When grown on soils where it is well-adapted, alfalfa is the highest yielding forage plant.

Alfalfa is one of the few plants that exhibit autotoxicity . Alfalfa seed will not grow in existing stands of alfalfa because of this. Therefore, alfalfa fields must be plowed down or rotatedGrowing the same crop repeatedly in the same place eventually depletes the soil of various nutrients. One way that farmers can avoid a decrease in soil fertility is to practice crop rotation by which different crops are planted in a regular sequence so th before reseeding.

Alfalfa sprouts are used as salad ingredient in the United States and Australia. The leading Alfalfa growing states are Wisconsin and California, with most of the latter state's production occurring in the Mojave Desert by means of irrigation provided by the California Aqueduct.

A few other species of Medicago are called alfalfa; others are called medick, barrelclover, or burclover.