Genealogy of Alfalfa
In this paper on the genealogy of alfalfa I will begin by telling you about the background and history of alfalfa in the United States. Secondly, I will tell you about the different sources of alfalfa germplasm. Next, I will talk about different studies and experiments that have been done to diversify the breeds of alfalfa. Finally, I will tell you about the genetic makeup of alfalfa and what distinguishes it from other popular plants.
Alfalfa otherwise known today as the “Queen of Forage” is thought to have originated in Iran over 2,400 years ago. It was the only forage crop that was cultivated before recorded history therefore the history of its origin isn’t one-hundred percent accurate. The first attempt to grow alfalfa in the United States was recorded in Georgia in the year 1736. The introduction of alfalfa to California came first by Spanish settlers and later by Europeans. The Europeans were headed to California during the gold rush. They obtained alfalfa seed when sailing around South America. Alfalfa flourished in the western states because of its favorable climate. Because alfalfa has a good yield, is palatable, and has a high value of nutrition. Word spread and so did the planting. Alfalfa then spread eastward to the Midwestern states. The distribution of alfalfa to states east of the Mississippi river was a failure due to its acid soils, plant disease, and humidity.
Most of the genetic diversities of alfalfa come from nine germplasm sources. These nine germplasm sources are M. falcate, M. varia, Turkistan, Flemish, Chilean, Peruvian, Indian, and African.
According to Barnes, Bingham, Murphy, Hunt, Beard, Skrdla, and Teubar “M. falcata has orange-yellow flowers and an early fall dormancy therefore it is known to have a heavy first cutting and a light second cutting. It also has some bacterial wilt and foliar disease resistances. Strains were usually classified as M. varia because they had variegated flower colors and variable pod shapes. M. varia sources were introduced to South Dakota in 1907 as seed from a single hybrid plant found in Russia. These sources are winter hardy, more vigorous than M. falcata and are susceptible to bacterial wilt. Turkistan alfalfas have been described as poor seed producers, susceptible to leaf diseases, and resistant to many insects and crown and root disease. They vary in winter hardiness from moderately hardy to hardy.
Kingsolver indicated that these wheat crops are undergoing natural selection. More specifically, there are four conditions that must be legitimate for natural selection to engage in a given
The purpose of our experiment was to test whether or not the Wisconsin Fast Plants, or Brassica rapa, followed the Mendelian genetics and its law of inheritance. First, after we crossed the heterozygous F1 generation, we created an F2 generation which we used to analyze. After analyzing our results, we conducted a chi-square test for for both the F1 and F2 generations to test their “goodness of fit”. For the F1 generation we calculated an x2 value of 6.97, which was greater than the value on the chi-square table at a p-value of 0.05 and 1 degree of freedom (6.97 > 3.84). This meant that we had to reject our hypothesis that stated there would be no difference between the observed and expected values. This showed us that the F1
Sheshadri, T. (2001, December 26). Student recognized for agricultural acumen. The San Diego Union Tribune, N1-4. Retrieved on March 20, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (Newspapers) on the World Wide Web: http://www.lexisnexis.com/universe.htm.
Since the birth of agriculture farmers across the world have been altering the genetic makeup of the crops they grow. Ancient farmers chose only the best looking plants and
Using the principles expounded by Galton and through Mendel's research in laws of recessive and dominant traits discovered in plant breeding, American researchers entered this new scientific field.
Because of this similarity, we can proudly say that Avocado is a state fruit of California because of its variety in multi-culture food. California not only that place popularize Avocado but also the origin of many well-known food.
So how did something not grown to any significant extent in West Virginia evolve into “our food?” Like many things for mountaineers, we got them from the Indians but not the ones that readily come to mind. That’s Indians as in South American Indians. Phaseolus vulgaris, pinto beans and cousins, originated from a common bean ancestor domesticated in Peru or close by 7,000 years ago. In fact, “pinto” is a Spanish word for painted, coined to describe the mottled or seemingly painted specks on this variety of bean.
“The Queen of Forages” is one title that alfalfa has earned in North America. Since its introduction in 1750s in the Americas alfalfa has grown to be the number one forage legume produced in North America. Alfalfa can be green chopped for silage, baled dry, baled as baleage, or used as pasture. Lucerne another common name for alfalfa has the highest feeding value of any other forage legume crop. High in digestible energy and protein makes alfalfa a valuable feed to livestock. Quality alfalfa primarily used for feeding dairy cows contains up to 22 percent of crude protein (CP) and 70 percent of total digestible nutrients (TDN). As there’s a great demand for alfalfa, alfalfa has been modified to grow in different climates.
Agriculture has been practiced in what is now Alabama for centuries. Alabama agriculture has changed considerably since the mid-1860s, when cotton was king and Alabama was known as "The Cotton State." One hundred years ago almost four million acres were planted to cotton, and today only 1.3 million acres are devoted to all agricultural crops” (Mitchell, 2007). Agriculture in Alabama is mainly cotton and peanuts in the past they grew cattle corn and cotton. The Native Americans started Alabama off with slash-and-burn agriculture, in which they cut and burned forests to make room for their fields of corn, beans, and squash.
The differences seen in the soil may be due to addition of carbon/ nitrogen which can change and alter the C:N ratio. The greater C:N ratio the more extracellular polymers are released which help hold the aggregates together and better its stability. The lower the C:N ratio the worse the aggregate stability and the faster the aggregate will crumble away as can be seen in both a slaking test and the alfalfa treatment.
One has not experienced the life of living in dirt until he has been in the dust bowl. It was a decade-long dust storm that impacted hundreds of farmers and their farmlands. Hardship was among one of the influences of the storm, which affected both farm workers and city folks. The storm also brought the elements of destruction and darkness, which reigned chaos across the Plains. Together, these issues gave the storm its popular name, “black blizzard” (Documentary, 2014). Such a name was given due to the storm’s visibility as a large black cloud, which made it look evil and scary. Although the black blizzard is what some people call the dust storm, most will refer it as the dust bowl.
Case, Larry, and Kathryn Whitaker. "What Is FFA." CALS. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 1998. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.
Our article title is “The Origin of the Naked Grains of Maize” which introduces the research performed to explain one aspect of the large variation between maize and Mexican teosinte from which maize was domesticated. The paper goes into how maize has evolved from teosinte and the genetic experimentation performed in order to demonstrate that maize evolved from teosinte. This is an interesting research topic because both of their genotypes are so similar yet their phenotypes are so dramatically different that it resulted in a question of whether maize did in fact evolve directly from teosinte and are members of the same species (Zea Mays) or if it is just a completely different species.
Throughout the history of the human race there have been a great number of crops that were discovered, planted, and over time domesticated. Wheat in the Middle East, rice in Asia, and rye in Eastern Europe are all some of today’s staple crops that feed millions every day. Crops like these make up over 50% of the world’s total food supply. However, the third most eaten crop in the world is maize, or corn, which provides 21% of human nutrition. Today maize feeds millions across the world, but its history is different from the others.
Quantitative genetics consists of constantly changing characters. From the name of quantitative genetics, it pursues to ‘quantify’ changes in the frequency distribution of traits that cannot simply be located in discrete phenotypic classes (Falconer, D.S. 1996). Upon analysis of the future of quantitative genetics being relevant in this age of rapid advancement in molecular genetics, it has been useful to evolutionary biology which quantitative genetics has been allocated a major boost from the extensive effort/work of Lande-which portrays how the actual equations of quantitative genetics can be extended and used to solve situations beyond livestock and the improvements of crops. In the activities of quantitative genetics in this age, there seems to be a risk in quantitative genetics falling on rough times, having being known as the ‘old’ way of molecular genetics or ‘The out-moded’ as opposed to the comparison of the new types/areas of molecular genetics of today’s age and era. The intention is to bring awareness of the importance of the use of quantitative genetics and placing it in proper perspective. As well as to target the amazing successes, especially central questions of evolutionary biology that can only be statistically answered fully via the requirement of a quantitative genetic perspective. Although through the quantitative genetics theory, the ability and availability to take into consideration the inheritance of quantitative traits such as fertility, the body size, etc is of high importance. Quantitative genetics is also an important contribution to the understanding of inbreeding depression which is the reduced productiveness of the offspring of closely related individuals. The counter-intuitive outcome of quantita...