Legumes for rainfed Mediterranean farming systems

A wide range of legumes is traditionally used in Mediterranean regions,owing to the extreme variability of environmental conditions and farming systems. Annual forage legumes are cultivated as hort-term forage crops, usually in mixture with cereals or grasses. Selfreseeding annual legumes are sown to improve permanent pastures in extensive agro-pastoral systems. Breeding programs are carried out on alfalfa to select varieties with high tolerance to summer drought,grazing, and attitude, to grow in mixtures with summer dormant perennial grasses.Other perennial legumes are also under study for their flexible utilization. Nonetheless, some critical aspects concern the legume seed production in Mediterranean Europe and the rhizobia-legume symbiosis.