Alfalfa, Queen of Forages: Reconquering the Grasslands of Inner Mongolia

A CWR team of Ben Kilian and Luis Salazar visited Prof. Linqing Yu, the Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) alfalfa pre-breeding partner in Inner Mongolia to see first-hand the progress undertaken thus far under the CWR Project.

For the last 15 years, Prof. Linqing Yu has been developing new varieties of alfalfa. Starting in 2015, the CWR alfalfa pre-breeding project has allowed him to continue his work, crossing alfalfa wild relatives (M. sativa subspecies falcata) with its domesticated counterpart (M.s. sativa), evaluating and selecting new lines that better tolerate colder temperatures and poor, drought-stricken soils, while still delivering high yield.

Alfalfa, “queen of forages,” a high-yielding crop with high nutritional quality, could make a big difference in the lives of the rural folk that carve out a living here in Inner Mongolia as best they can.

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Alfalfa, Queen of Forages: Reconquering the Grasslands of Inner Mongolia