Register      Login
Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > CP > AR06139
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(12)

Preliminary evaluation of diverse lucerne (Medicago sativa sspp.) germplasm to identify new material for livestock and cropping based farming systems in Australia

A. W. Humphries A B C and S. J. Hughes A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A South Australian Research and Development Institute, Box 397, SA 5001, Australia.

B School of Agriculture and Wine, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: humphries.alan@saugov.sa.gov.au

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 57(12) 1297-1306 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR06139
Submitted: 8 May 2006  Accepted: 4 September 2006   Published: 21 November 2006

Abstract

A preliminary evaluation protocol is described of Medicago sativa that enables a diverse range of germplasm from different winter-activity groups to be evaluated in the same experiment. The protocol was used to compare the seasonal growth patterns of very winter-dormant M. sativa sspp. falcata and caerulea accessions with highly winter-active M. sativa ssp. sativa accessions. Herbage production was strongly related to winter activity in the cumulative first year of growth and in second-year winter months, but completely unrelated in 3 cuts in the following spring. The vertical measurement of plant height was confirmed to be a good indicator of herbage production in winter, but neither stem height nor length were good indicators of spring production.

The preliminary evaluation protocol identified highly winter-active class 10–11 germplasm with high winter production and excellent recovery after cutting, and accessions of M. sativa sspp. caerulea and falcata (winter activity class 1) with excellent spring and summer production. These wild relatives of lucerne have great potential to increase the area of cultivated M. sativa in Australia, largely as a component in pasture mixtures. They also offer improved quality traits over winter-active Lucerne, including a higher leaf to stem ratio, and a lower stem thickness and internode length.

Additional keywords: alfalfa, genetic resources, lucerne in pasture mixtures, rotations, dryland salinity.


Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the valuable technical assistance of Robert and Jenny Law throughout the course of this experiment.


References


Auricht GC , Prosperi JM , Snowball R , Hughes SJ (1999) The characterisation and preliminary evaluation of Medicago and Trifolium germplasm. In ‘Genetic resources of Mediterranean pasture and forage legumes’. (Eds SJ Bennett, PS Cocks) pp. 141–149. (Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands)

Barnes DK , Smith DM , Stucker RE , Elling LJ (1978) Fall dormancy in alfalfa: a valuable predictive tool. In ‘Proceedings of the 26th Alfalfa Improvement Conference’. Brookings, SD. (US Government Printing Office: Washington, DC)

Berdahl JD, Wilton AC, Frank AB (1989) Survival and agronomic performance of 25 alfalfa cultivars and strains interseeded into rangeland. Journal of Rangeland Management 42, 312–316. open url image1

Bittman S, McCartney DH (1994) Evaluating alfalfa cultivars and germplasms for pastures using the mob-grazing technique. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 74, 109–114. open url image1

Bowman DT (1989) Statistical procedures to measure population variation. In ‘IBGR Training Courses: Lecture Series. 2. Scientific management of germplasm: characterisation, evaluation and enhancement’. (Eds H Stalker, C Chapman) (Board for Plant Genetic Resources: Rome)

Chapman C (1989) Principles of germplasm evaluation. In ‘IBGR Training Courses: Lecture Series. 2. Scientific management of germplasm: characterisation, evaluation and enhancement’. (Eds H Stalker, C Chapman) pp. 55–65. (Board for Plant Genetic Resources: Rome)

Cocks PS (2001) Ecology of herbaceous perennial legumes: a review of characteristics that may provide management options for the control of salinity and waterlogging in dryland cropping systems. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 52, 137–151.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Crawford MC, Macfarlane MR (1995) Lucerne reduces soil moisture and increases livestock production in an area of high groundwater recharge potential. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 35, 171–180.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Dear BS, Cocks PS, Swan AD, Wolfe EC, Ayre LM (2000) Effect of phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.) and lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) density on seed yield and regeneration of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.). Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 51, 267–278.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Doole GJ , Pannell DJ , Revell CK , Amir A (2004) How profitable are perennial pasture phases in Western Australian cropping systems? In ‘14th Australian Weeds Conference. Weed management: balancing people, planet, profit’. Wagga Wagga, NSW. pp. 82–87. (Weed Society of NSW: Sydney)

Egan P , Ransom KP (1996) Intercropping wheat, oats and barley into lucerne in Victoria. In ‘8th Australian Agronomy Conference’. Queensland, Australia. pp. 231–234. (The Australian Society of Agronomy: Toowoomba, Qld)

Fitzgerald RD (1979) A comparison of four pasture types for the wheat belt of southern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 19, 216–224.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Grace PR, Oades JM, Keith H, Hancock TW (1995) Trends in wheat yields and soil organic carbon in the Permanent Rotation Trial at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, South Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 35, 857–864.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Gramshaw D, Bishop HG, Ludke DH (1982) Performance of grazed creeping-rooted lucernes at two sites in central Queensland. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 22, 177–181.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hughes SJ (2003) ‘SARDI Genetic Resources Centre 2003 annual report.’ (South Australian Research and Development Institute: Adelaide, S. Aust.)

Humphries AW, Kobelt ET, Bellotti WD, Auricht GC (2006) Tolerance of Australian lucerne (Medicago sativa) germplasm to grazing by sheep. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46, 1263–1270.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Humphries AW, Latta RA, Auricht GC, Bellotti WD (2004) Over-cropping lucerne with wheat: effects of lucerne winter activity on total plant production and water use of the mixture, and wheat yield and quality. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 55, 839–848.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Johnston WH, Cornish PS, Shoemark VF (2005) Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees. complex pastures in southern New South Wales, Australia: a comparison with Medicago sativa L. and Phalaris aquatica L. pastures under rotational grazing. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45, 401–420.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Jones R, Dowling P (2005) Sustainability and economics of temperate perennial Australian grazing systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 106, 359–376.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Kaehne ID (1974) Breeding lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) with higher tolerance to waterlogging. In ‘Proceedings of the 12th International Grassland Congress on Plant Introduction, Breeding and Seed Production’. (Eds VG Iglovikov, AP Movsissyants) pp. 146–160. (Mir: Moscow)

Leach GJ (1970) An evaluation of lucerne lines at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, South Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 10, 53–61.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Leach GJ (1977) The survival of some erect and spreading lucerne lines at Lawes, south-east Queensland. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 17, 412–416.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Litchfield WH (1951) Soil survey of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia. CSIRO, Division of Soils Divisional Report No. 2/51, Adelaide, S. Aust.

Magid HMA, Ghoneim MF, Rabie RK, Sabrah RE (1991) Productivity of wheat and alfalfa under intercropping. Experimental Agriculture 27, 391–395. open url image1

Passioura JB , Ridley AM (1998) Principles and practicalities in managing soil water and nitrogen to minimise land degradation. In ‘Proceedings of the 9th Australian Agronomy Conference’. Wagga Wagga. (The Australian Society of Agronomy: Wagga Wagga, NSW)

Pecetti L , Piano E , Romani M , Veronesi F , Rosellini D (2000) Variation in morphophysiological traits of exotic lucerne germplasm in northern Italy. In ‘Lucerne and medics for the XXI Century’. Perugia, Italy. (Eds F Veronesi, D Rosellini) pp. 44–51. (University of Perugia: Italy)

Prescott JA (1931) The soils of Australia in relation to vegetation and climate. Council for Science and Industrial Research, Bulletin 52, Australia.

Scott BJ, Ridley AM, Conyers MK (2000) Management of soil acidity in long-term pastures of south-eastern Australia: a review. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 40, 1173–1198.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Shevchenko PD, Tseluiko OA (2004) Efficiency of perennial forage mixtures on solonetz soils. Kormoproizvodstvo 6, 20–23. open url image1

Sledge MK , Bouton JH , Tamulonis J , Kochert G , Parrot WA (1996) Aluminium tolerance QTL in diploid alfalfa. In ‘Report of the 35th North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference’. Oklahoma. (Ed. W Woodward) p. 35. (NAAIC: Johnston, IA)

Sormunen Cristian R, Taponen S, Saastamoinen I, Mela T, Saloniemi H (1998) Yellow-flowered lucerne: properties and influence on performance and reproduction of ewes. Agricultural and Food Science in Finland 7, 437–446. open url image1

Stace HCT , Hubble GD , Brewer R , Northcote KH , Sleeman JR , Mulcahy MJ , Hallsworth EG (1968) ‘A handbook of Australian soils.’ (Rellim Technical Publications: Adelaide, S. Aust.)

Teuber L (1998) ‘Evaluation of fall dormancy in California.’ (University of California: Davis, CA)

Tow PG, Lovett JV, Lazenby A (1997) Adaptation and complementarity of Digitaria eriantha and Medicago sativa on a solodic soil in a subhumid environment with summer and winter rainfall. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 37, 311–322.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Vintu V (1993) Increase in yields of Festuca valesiaca pastures in the Jiia-Bahlui Basin with organic and mineral fertilizer applications. Cercetari Agronomice in Moldova 26, 110–116. open url image1

Wassermann VD, Kruger AJ, van den Berg M (1992) Herbage yield and stand persistence of lucerne cultivars of varying winter dormancy under irrigation in the Transvaal Middleveld. South African Journal of Plant and Soil 9, 129–135. open url image1

Wolfe EC, Southwood OR (1980) Plant productivity and persistence in mixed pastures containing lucerne at a range of densities with subterranean clover or phalaris. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 20, 189–196.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Wood WE (1924) Increase of salt in soil and streams following the destruction of native vegetation. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 10, 35–47. open url image1