Talk:Alfalfa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Alfalfa is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to plants and botany. For more information, visit the project page.
B This article has been rated as B-class on the quality scale.
High This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.

Contents

[edit] Lucerne as Fodder

Might it be an idea to mention that though Lucerne is used as fodder for cattle, it also causes fatal cases of bloat in at least Cattle and Sheep that have fed on it for too long. Its in most farmers almanacs that I have read. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.253.20.198 (talk) 09:27, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dietary supplement value

What kind of herbal dietary supplement value does Alfalfa have? Joel M. 01:30, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

One Opinion: Alfalfa (Medicago sativa, Lucerne) is considered by many to have significant nutritional value for humans. It can be consumed as sprouted seeds (with initial two leaves) or unsprouted seed (more difficult to digest and controversial for several auto-immune syndromes.) They can be consumed as a tea or as a desiccated "grass sprout" either in tablet or powder form. It can be a source of dietary fiber, depending on how it is consumed. It contains significant amounts of vitamins A (carotene), B-complex, C, E, K and P (bioflavinoids) plus enzymes, amino acids, calcium and other essential minerals that contribute to its utilization in bones. It contributes to vein, circulatory heath and normal clotting. (Note corresponding cautions pre-surgically and for some specific blood disorders.) It prevents plaque build-up in the arteries. Several of the preceding points argue for its use in reducing potential for stroke. It promotes healthy lactation for nursing mothers. Many people have great success in reducing allergic over-response in their seasonal allergies with alfalfa tea, powder or tablets. NOTE: There is some controversy (especially in the Ayurveda medical system) about the use of sprouts (of any type) in the daily diet, especially for VATA constitution, as they are considered overly astringent and agitating. All sprouts contain concentrated, though natural, toxicity for use in their own survival. This toxicity was even referenced in the main article on alfalfa as a reason for crop rotation in alfalfa planting.) Charlotte Jernigan 17:10, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] two alfalfas?

What is the relationship between THIS alfalfa (used for animal feed) and the small fresh shoots sold in plastic containers at the greengrocer for sandwiches and salads - that's called alfalfa too... KJ

Same stuff, just much younger.
  • I think we need a reference to the latter in the article. QuinnHK 18:33, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Family

The taxobox lists "Family: Fabaceae"; the article itself says "family: Leguminosae"--? Is it both? --KQ

The USDA website says Fabaceae. --rmhermen
It's both, a third name for the same familiy is Papilionaceae. -- Gauss 13:54, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Our Gang

Our Gang was actually a short film series released to movie theatres, not a television show. --b. Touch 07:52, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Bale weight

I have reverted an anonymous, unreferenced change to the weight of the large, round bales used by cattle ranches, originally 1,000 pounds, then changed to 2,000. I didn't take the time find a source for the number. — Pekinensis 23:14, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

Thank you. There may be 2,000 pound bales out there somewhere, but I've never seen them. Around here they run between about 1,350 and 1,700. Gary D Robson 16:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
I'd suggest rounding the figures to 500-1000 kg. Bale weight isn't a very high precision detail. - MPF 19:58, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article coverage

Not sure why this page lists the whole genus Medicago; Alfalfa is just M. sativa. When I've a bit more time, I'll split out a new Medicago genus page, and merge the existing Medicago sativa page with this one - MPF 20:03, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

I think I've managed to do this properly; there's now a new page for Medicago, with the interwiki links formerly at this page, and the information from Medicago sativa has been inserted into this article and that article redirected here. Choess 06:47, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Literature

Not sure if this is relevent enough or not, Alfalfa is repetatively mentioned in 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. Probably not important enough.

[edit] Modern fashion food

I have increasingly noticed alfalfa sprouts in the chilled cabinet at local vegan / trendy greengrocers. It would be interesting to include what the culinary use of alfalfa usually is, when it became populular. Has it always been a salad ingredient? Is it to do with vegetarian health? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.105.228.120 (talk) 01:30, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Copyediting

I really admired this entry and decided to spend some time copyediting it to improve it readibility. I very slightly expanded the section on Roundup Ready alfalfa, mentioning that it belongs to Monsanto, the source of the lawsuit, and clarifying the issue of gene flow (omitting the term), since it wasn't explained anyway. Most of my edits were to remove excess words, use the active voice, and similar. Eperotao (talk) 18:31, 3 June 2008 (UTC)