Abstract:Alfalfa is one kind of high-quality forage grass. With the development pattern expanding from food crop-commercial crop-forage, ternary structure, to food crop-commercial crop-livestock-forage，quaternary structure, the domestic demand for alfalfa is increasing. In order to provide references and supports for the development of alfalfa industry in China, and propose appropriate full-mechanized alfalfa production development patterns which are suitable for China, the present situation of alfalfa mechanized production technology in China and foreign countries were reviewed, summarized and analyzed. The full-mechanized alfalfa production technical pattern included seven mechanized production technology, i.e. alfalfa seed project, cultivation, sowing, field management, high-quality harvest, storage and transportation, and forage products processing, with more than thirty production links. For now, a suitable mechanization technology system for alfalfa production has initially formed in China, which means that available equipment could be found and used during the production operation with not completing machine matching, high production cost and low-efficiency problems. Certain gaps about the alfalfa mechanized production technology existed between China and foreign countries. Issues of uneven development of production processes, short boards in the mechanized production technology, low industrialization, basic research backward, poor linkage and reliability of equipment of the mechanized production operation still existed. Establishing a complete full-mechanized technology system for alfalfa production, developing a special alfalfa mechanization technology system with Chinese characteristics, strengthening theoretical system research of soil-alfalfa-machine interaction, and realizing alfalfa production machinery with integration as well as intellectualization,would be the development direction of alfalfa mechanized production technology system in China.
