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Breeding of High Nutrient Alfalfa

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Introduction

As the world's population grows, there is a growing demand for animal products such as meat and milk. Therefore, a high level of forage crop production is a must. Alfalfa is one of the most important forage crops. It has the characteristics of wide adaptability, high yield and rich nutrition, and is known as the "king of forages". Alfalfa has the highest nutritional value among common forages. It contains various types of vitamins, minerals and other basic nutrients, and its crude protein content can reach 18%-26%. The nutrition content and biomass of alfalfa can be improved by biotechnology, which has an important role in promoting the development of animal husbandry and the production of dairy products.

Service

Alfalfa is a widely grown perennial forage crop. Improving the nutritional value of alfalfa protein is one of the goals of alfalfa breeding. With the development of biotechnology, more and more functional genes have been identified and discovered.Genetic modification to improve the plant traits of feeding value of alfalfa will provide a broader prospect for high nutrition breeding of alfalfa. The feed quality of alfalfa varieties could be significantly improved by increasing the leaf-to-stem ratio and the fiber digestibility of stem tissue. Lifeasible provides several strategies to accelerate the process of high nutrient breeding of alfalfa.

  • Transgenic Genetic Engineering

The commonly used genetic transformation methods of alfalfa include agrobacterium-mediated method, gene gun method, direct transformation method, microinjection method and pollen tube channel method.

  • Gene Editing Technology

Commonly used gene editing technologies include zinc-finger nucleases, TALENs (transcription activator-like effector nucleases), virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and CRISPR/Cas9. The CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology was used to modify the genes related to high nutrition alfalfa to obtain a broad spectrum and durable high nutrition ability.

Representative effects of miR156 enhancement on shoot branching in alfalfa genotype A11a.Figure 1. Representative effects of miR156 enhancement on shoot branching in alfalfa genotype A11a. (Aung B.; et al. 2015)

  • High-Throughput Sequencing Technology

To understand the genetic mechanism of high nutrient alfalfa, DNA-level sequencing, RNA-level sequencing, single-cell level sequencing, epigenetic-level sequencing, proteomics and metabolomics analyses were performed.

  • Forage Quality Determination

We have established a comprehensive quality analysis platform that enables detailed analysis of forage quality, including determination of lignin, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), total crude protein and digestibility.

Advantages

  • Professional: Experienced technical team, standardized experimental platform, support your molecular breeding research.
  • High efficiency: Plant a variety of plants continuously throughout the year, and carry out various genetic transformation experiments at any time.
  • Comprehensive: Timely feedback and communication to ensure accurate implementation and repositioning of the agreement.
  • One-stop service: From the construction of vectors to the acquisition of transgenic seedlings and related physiological and biochemical tests, to accelerate the research process.

Lifeasible offers a comprehensive solution for molecular breeding of high nutrient alfalfa and individualized research strategies to meet the needs of different customers. If you have related research needs or would like to know more about our services, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

  1. Aung, B.; et al. MicroRNA156 as a promising tool for alfalfa improvement. Plant Biotechnol J. 2015, 13(6): 779-790.

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