Climate change and pervasive zinc deficiency have increased hidden hunger by decreasing the nutritional quality of cereal and forage crops. Zinc biofortification offers a promising and sustainable technique to enhance crop zinc concentration and support livestock nutrition. The present research enhanced alfalfa yield, quality and zinc content by implementing zinc sources. The experiment was performed during the Rabi season around mid-October. Two cultivars of alfalfa, V1 =Supersonic FD 9 (Australian Origin) and V2 = Sargodha Lucerne 2002 (Pakistan Origin), were employed in the experiment. The experiment consists of two sources of zinc, S1 = ZnSO4 and S2 = Zinc oxide nanoparticles, with four different zinc doses: L1 = 0 kg/ha, L2 = 3 kg/ha, L3 = 6 kg/ha, L4 = 9 kg/ha. Results revealed that nano ZnO markedly enhanced alfalfa performance compared with conventional ZnO. The highest shoot fresh weight (26.57 g), root fresh weight (2.10 g), number of leaves (76.0 plant⁻¹), chlorophyll a (1.690 mg g⁻¹), chlorophyll b (2.356 mg g⁻¹), total chlorophyll (3.980 mg g⁻¹), crude protein (24.48%), crude fiber (29.48%), green fodder yield (49,626.67 kg ha⁻¹), dry matter yield (9,925.33 kg ha⁻¹), and zinc content (84.53 mg kg⁻¹) were obtained in variety V2 under nano ZnO at the highest zinc level, representing the best overall treatment performance.