alfalfa

/æl'fælfə/

Thân thiện

A farmer cuts alfalfa in a sunlit field.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A leguminous plant cultivated for hay or forage: Alfalfa is a perennial plant valued as a livestock feed due to its high nutritional content.
   • A specific European forage plant: It is characterized by trifoliate leaves and clusters of small blue-violet flowers, widely grown in pastures and for hay production.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The farmer planted several acres of alfalfa to feed his cattle during the winter.
  • Alfalfa is often used in crop rotation to improve soil nitrogen levels.

Advanced Usage

• "Alfalfa meal" or "alfalfa pellets": Processed forms of the plant used as animal feed or organic fertilizer.
  • The gardener added alfalfa meal to the compost to boost nitrogen.

Variants and Related Words

• Lucerne (n): A common name for alfalfa, used primarily in British English.
  • The field was sown with lucerne for the dairy herd.

Synonyms

• Forage legume: A leguminous plant grown primarily for animal feed.
• Medicago sativa: The scientific name for the alfalfa plant.

Học thuật

Noun

1. leguminous plant grown for hay or forage
2. important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop

Từ đồng nghĩa

• lucerne
• Medicago sativa