London: Leonard Hill [Books] Ltd.; New York: Interscience Publishers Inc., 1962. — 474 pp. — (World Crop Series).
ISBN-10: 0249388596.
ISBN-13: 978-0249388596.The need for a book on alfalfa, in all its aspects as an important world crop, has been evident for a considerable time. Stewart's Alfalfa-growing in the United States and Canada was published in 1926, and has, ever since, been the latest book on the subject for readers of English. Yet its coverage was largely confined to North America; and it is scarcely necessary to emphasize the spectacular advances which have occurred since that time. Alfalfa has almost certainly been the subject of more research than any other single forage crop, and possibly of more than all other forage crops combined; consequently, an extensive literature has accumulated that is to be found only in scientific journals and government bulletins.
It has not been easy to survey this literature and analyse the information contained in it, and, at the end, the author is left with persistent doubts as to the adequacy of his efforts. But, probably, English-language publications have been fairly surveyed, and fortunately they represent the major areas where research has been most active. However, language barriers have prevented similar detailed attention to work done in western Europe, the Soviet Union, and South America, so that some important research has doubtless been overlooked or has received inadequate treatment.
Contents:
Origin and History.
Vernacular names.
Early spreading.
Progress in the New World.
Introduction to South Africa and Australasia.
Distribution and Production.
Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,Yugoslavia.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
North and Central America: Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, United States of America.
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay.
Asia: India, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey.
Africa: Algeria, Republic of South Africa.
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand.
Description of Species.
Generic relationships.
Artificial key to species of Medicago.
Descriptions of the species, with notes on their agronomic values.
Morphology and Seed Setting.
External morphology: root system, stems and leaves, inflorescence and flower, fruit and seed.
Internal morphology: microsporogenesis, macrosporogenesis, pollination and fertilization, fertility relationships.
Seed setting: tripping, insect pollinators, honey-bees, wild bees.
Types and Varieties.
Variety classification.
Regional ecotypes: central Asia; Trans-Caucasia; Europe, western Siberia, and eastern Siberia; North America; South America; Tripolitania; Mediterranean; Australia; Mesopotamia; India; Asia Minor; Yemen.
Countries and their varieties: Algeria, Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Libya, Turkey, Republic of South Africa, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United States of America, Yugoslavia.
Cytogenetics and Breeding.
Cytogenetics.
Breeding: objectives, high temperature, low temperatures, icing, soil moisture, soil reaction, forage yield, seed yield, growth-habit, seed dormancy, chemical composition, resistance to insects, disease resistance.
Methods of selection and breeding: natural selection, mass selection, progeny testing, synthesis, recurrent selection, back-cross breeding, hybrid combinations.
Special techniques: vegetative propagation, isolation, yield determination, greenhouse care, selling and crossing, pollen germination, chromosome doubling, chromosome stains.
Physiological Considerations.
Disease resistance: classification of disease resistance, immunity, resistance and susceptibility.
The mechanism of true resistance: morphology of the host, physiological factors, chemical substances.
Insect resistance and its classification: preference and non-preference, tolerance, antibiosis.
Soil reaction: soil acidity, soil alkalinity.
Soil salinity.
Moisture requirements.
Germination: after-ripening, 'hard' seeds.
Establishment and Care of Stands.
Choice of land and location: soil, drainage, crust formation, fertilizers, soil reaction, water supply, field history, seed production.
Choice of seed and variety: dormancy, seed quality, weed seeds, suitability.
Seed treatment: scarification, fungicides, inoculation.
Cultural and seeding practices: the seed bed, companion crops, time of seeding, rate of seeding, depth of seeding, method of seeding, row spacing.
Care of the new stand.
Care of established stands: burning, cultivation, fertilization, re-seeding.
Irrigating alfalfa: rate and frequency of application of water, methods of irrigation.
Plant Nutrients, Chemical Composition, and Nitrogen Fixation.
Non-mineral elements: hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen.
Mineral elements: phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, boron, molybdenum, iron, manganese, aluminium, copper, zinc, chlorine, cobalt.
Organic amendments: barnyard manure, green-manure.
Chemical composition.
Nitrogen fixation.
Weeds.
Losses from weeds—direct effects, indirect effects.
Adaptations and characteristics: soil and climatic relationships, lifehistory, dissemination of seed, germination.
Methods of control: special methods for minor infestations, cultural methods, chemical methods, soil sterilants, selective herbicides.
Biological Control.
Injurious Insects and Rodents.
Injurious insects.
Control methods: cultural treatments, biological control, chemical control (inorganic compounds, natural insecticides, synthetic insecticides).
Common insect pests of alfalfa: red-legged earth mite, two-spotted spider-mite, alfalfa flea, grasshoppers, mormon cricket, thrips, plant bugs, garden fleahopper, stink-bugs, pea aphid, spotted alfalfa aphid, potato leafhopper, meadow spittlebug, cutworms, alfalfa looper, bollworms, armyworms, alfalfa stem-borer, alfalfa caterpillar, webworms, alfalfa snout-beetle, Egyptian alfalfa weevil, alfalfa weevil, clover root curculio, wireworms, clover stem-borer, clover seed chalcid, red harvester-ant, the gall midges.
Rodents: description, habits, burrows, food sources, damage, natural enemies, artificial controls.
Diseases of Alfalfa.
Fungicides.
Description of diseases: fungal diseases, fungi attacking the root and crown, fungi attacking leaf, stem, and floral parts.
Bacterial diseases.
Virus diseases.
Nematode diseases.
Miscellaneous diseases.
Harvesting and Storage.
Root reserves.
Time and frequency of cutting.
Curing and storing the crop: hay, silage, soilage.
Pasture management.
Seed production: harvesting methods, seed cleaning, seed storage.
Pedigreed seed: general seed certification standards of I.C.I.A., alfalfa seed certification standards of I.C.I.A., seed standards of O.E.E.C., seed standards in representative countries: Canada, France, United States.
Chemical Composition and Feeding.
Composition: proximate analysis, minerals, vitamins, amino-acids energy relationships, miscellaneous constituents.
Feeding alfalfa to livestock: beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, horses and mules, swine, poultry.
Bloat in ruminants: classification, causes of bloat, prevention of bloat, treatment of bloat.
Industrial Uses of Alfalfa.
Dehydrated products: types of equipment, operation of driers, special processing, storage, costs of production and market value.
Extracted products: proteins, vitamins, pigments, other compounds.
Human consumption.
Honey production.
Prospects for Research and Research Institutions.
Prospects for research: area and distribution, cytogenetics and taxonomy, breeding, biological and chemical controls, pollination, plant nutrition, animal nutrition, harvesting and thrashing, industrial products.
Research institutions: Europe, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, North and Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania.
