Study on the nutrition quality of wild germplasm of Medicago lupulina

Thirteen wild ecotypes of Medicago lupulina were collected in the northwest China to test their nutrients using 20 alfalfa varieties, M. scutellata and M. truncatula as the reference. The result indicated that the crude protein contents 13 representative ecotypes varied from 24.26% to 29.36%，the crude fat content ranged from 2.68% to 4.36%，the crude fiber content ranged from 17.05% to 22.61%，the nitrogenfree extract content ranged from 33.79% to 40.25%. These results suggested that the nutrition value of black medic was higher than alfalfa. M. scutellata contained lower crude protein, crude fat and nitrogenfree extract but higher crude fiber. M. truncatula contained higher crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and lower nitrogenfree extract.