Abstract: As one of the best available forages, alfalfa played an important role in the development of horse breeding in the Tang Dynasty that followed the Qin and Han Dynasties. The article applies the principles and methods of plant textual research to the records of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties in order to explore the history of alfalfa’s distribution, cultivation and utilization. The results showed that during the Tang Dynasty the development of alfalfa was promoted through 8 lanes, 48 imperial offices and 1296 land stations in Longyou. “Achievements praising monument of Longyou” (Song Dynasty) recorded that the total area of wheat and alfalfa had reached 1900 ha and was typically used for livestock feeding in winter in Song Dynasty. Investigations show that, during the Tang Dynasty, alfalfa was widely distributed across Longyou, Guannei, Hedongsandao, Anxidu, Pishadu, Weihe River and the lower reaches of the Yellow River regions. The “New Tang History Book”(Song Dynasty,1975) records that 4 ha of alfalfa were used to raise horses. “Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty” records the number of horses kept at post stations, with the biggest courier station raising 75 horses on 200 ha of alfalfa farmland and the smallest raising 8 horses and 21.33 ha of farmland. Croplands were similar to grazing land, with both types of land use focusing on growing alfalfa to solve the problem of feeding horses. Special departments were established during the Sui Dynasty to administer alfalfa planting, and were followed by the “Ding organization of alfalfa” in the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, laws were used to promote the cultivation of alfalfa and its use as fodder to solve the key problem faced by animal husbandry at that time, winter feeding. At this time, the cultivatinging technique was still used, a technique that was handed down from the Han Dynasty. Alfalfa was used not only for animal winter management but also as food, medicine and spice.The management experience and planting technologies developed during the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties continue to have a positive effect on the development of alfalfa in China today.

Key words: alfalfa, Sui and Tang Dynasties, cultivation and utilization, alfalfa history