Development situation and potential analysis of alfalfa industry in Guizhou Province

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), as a high quality legume forage in animal husbandry, is widely cultivated in the world. Based on the investigation on alfalfa growing and demand in Guizhou and the situation of shortage of arable land resources, severe rocky desertification, and the midlong term development goals of grassland ecological animal husbandry and the objective requirements of developing grainsaving animal husbandry, the necessity and feasibility of alfalfa industry were discussed and the key points for alfalfa industry, such as alfalfa germplasm identification, new variety breeding, highyield cultivation technology and processing technology were provided in order to support the development of ecological animal husbandry in Guizhou.