Abstract
Integration of perennial grass species into the current food production systems, especially in the agropastoral regions worldwide, may produce multiple benefits including, among others, a more stable productivity and a smaller eco-environmental footprint. However, one of the fundamental challenges facing the large-scale adoption of such grass species is their ability to withstand the vagaries of winter in these regions. Here, we present a comprehensive evaluation of the winter hardiness of 50 indigenous Chinese cultivars of alfalfa, a high-quality leguminous perennial grass, in comparison with six introduced U.S. cultivars in a multi-site field experiment in northern China. Our results reveal that indigenous cultivars have stronger winter hardiness than introduced cultivars. Cultivars native in the north performed better than southern cultivars, suggesting that suitability evaluation is an unavoidable step proceeding any regional implementations. Our results also show that the metric we used to assess alfalfa’s winter hardiness, the average score index (ASI), produced more consistent results than another more-widely used metric of winter survival rate (WSR). These findings offer a systematic field evidence that supports regional cropping system adjustment and production system betterment to ensure food security under climate change in the region and beyond.
Highlights
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial high-quality leguminous forage grass, which is widely cultivated around the world
The obtained measurements show that at experimental sites, the average score index (ASI) values of these six cultivars are significantly higher than their all experimental sites, the ASI values of these six cultivars are significantly higher than reference values reported by McCaslin, Woodward and Undersander [22], indicating that their reference values reported by McCaslin, Woodward and Undersander [22], indicating the overwintering abilities of these cultivars are lower in northern China than in the U.S
The results this research showed that among alfalfa cultivars selected for the field experiment, the values of the indigenous cultithe alfalfa cultivars selected for the field experiment, the ASI values of the indigenous vars are are lower than those of the introduced
Summary
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial high-quality leguminous forage grass, which is widely cultivated around the world. In China, alfalfa cultivation can be dated back to more than 2000 years [1]. By 2016, the alfalfa cultivation area in China has reached. 3.84 million hectares, or over 40% of the total area of all high-quality forage grasses in. The cultivation of alfalfa has played an important role in supporting the healthy development of the modern livestock industry and food security in China. Alfalfa-enabled crop rotations have the potential to transform the low- to medium-yielding lands into high-yielding ones by biological nitrogen fixation [3], demonstrating its role in ensuring national food security [4]. The trend of climate warming has become more evident in recent decades in China
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