Growth, seed set and nitrogen fixation of 28 annual legume species on 3 Vertosol soils in southern New South Wales

Abstract

The adaptation of 28 annual legume species to heavy clay cracking soils prone to waterlogging during winter was evaluated at 3 sites ranging in pH (CaCl₂) from 4.6 to 5.4 in the wheatbelt of southern NSW. The 32 accessions and cultivars included Medicago arabica, M. polymorpha, Melilotus albus (syn. M. alba), Trigonella balansae, and 24 Trifolium species. Species identified as potentially valuable new plants for these environments included Trifolium hirtum, T. echinatum, T. glanduliferum and M. arabica for winter production, and M. albus, T. echinatum, T. glanduliferum, T. isthmocarpum, T. pauciflorum, and T. purpureum for spring production. Current cultivars of T. subterraneum subsp. brachycalycinum cv. Clare, and subsp. yanninicum, cv. Riverina, T. resupinatum cvv. Kyambro, Nitro and Prolific, and T. michelianum cvv. Bolta and Paradana, and M. polymorpha cv. Santiago, also proved well adapted.

Average seed mass (size) of the legume species varied from 0.3 mg to 8.9 mg/seed with a negative curvilinear relationship between individual seed mass of a species and the number of seed set at all 3 sites (r² = 0.59–0.89). Seed mass of a species did not influence winter productivity or seed yield.

The percentage of nitrogen biologically fixed by the individual species in the first year averaged over the 3 sites varied from 30 to 75%. Species which fixed the highest proportion of their nitrogen requirement were T. subterraneum, M. arabica, T. isthmocarpum and T. resupinatum cv. Kyambro, all fixing >62% of their shoot nitrogen and having a nitrogen content >3.0%. In contrast, T. sylvaticum, T. cherleri, T. spumosum, T. stellatum and T. glomeratum performed poorly at most sites, and fixed <42% of their nitrogen requirements (averaged over 3 sites) with <2.5% nitrogen in their tissue in spring.