Tolerance of Australian lucerne (Medicago sativa) germplasm to grazing by sheep

Humphries, Alan; Kobelt, E.; Bellotti, William D; Auricht, G. C.

doi:10.1071/ea04044

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, it has been shown that good grazing tolerance can also be obtained by appropriate germplasm choice and selection pressure in winter‐active germplasm with a ‘conventional’ growth habit (Bouton et al. , 1998; Humphries et al. , 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of grazing‐tolerant lucerne cultivars

Pecetti

Romani

Rosa

et al. 2008

Grass and Forage Science

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Improvement of grazing-tolerance in lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) is an objective of interest worldwide for the acknowledged potential of this species in pastures. A breeding programme applied standard methods of the selection for this trait, which implies continuous stocking and intensive grazing, to germplasm preliminarily selected for reportedly positive morphological attributes (large and deep crowns; non-erect growth habit). In this study six experimental cultivars, originating from this programme, and three check varieties were evaluated. Grazing tolerance was assessed under continuous sheep stocking for 2 years. Herbage yield in 3 years and seed yield (in the second year) were also evaluated in distinct and contiguous sub-experiments. One experimental cultivar had a prostrate habit, two were semiprostrate, and three were semi-erect. Under grazing, five of them showed final persistence similar to, or better than, that of the tolerant check variety adopted in the standard test. In particular, the prostrate experimental cultivar (termed Camporegio) had remarkable persistence, although associated with low vigour, associated with the introgression of M. sativa ssp. falcata into its parentage. A semi-erect cultivar (termed Verbena) possessed a good balance between grazing tolerance, potential dry-matter yield and seed yield.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of grazing‐tolerant lucerne cultivars

Pecetti

Romani

Rosa

et al. 2008

Grass and Forage Science

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“…Repeated defoliation with inadequate recovery leads to loss of dry matter production and reduces persistence. While cultivars have been developed that are more tolerant of frequent defoliation (Bouton, ; Humphries, Kobelt, Bellotti, & Auricht, ; Sewell, Hill, & Reich, ; Smith, Bouton, Singh, & McCaughey, ), this general principle still applies. Although recommendations exist regarding recovery periods following defoliation, evaluation of various recovery regimes in different environments is limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximising lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) production with fixed‐length recovery intervals after defoliation in mild winter environments

Clark¹,

Mitchell²,

Nie³

et al. 2018

J Agronomy Crop Science

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Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) is an important temperate legume for livestock production systems. Lucerne requires a recovery period after a defoliation event so that taproot energy and nutrient stores can be replenished. A field experiment examined the effects of recovery period management following defoliation, on lucerne herbage production and nutritive value at two contrasting sites in Victoria, Australia. Sites were established at Rutherglen and Hamilton, using established SARDI Seven lucerne stands. Treatments were short recovery (SR; plots cut at 21‐day intervals), long recovery (LR; plots cut at 42‐day intervals), new shoots (NS; plots cut when new shoots from the crown were at least 2 cm long) and new shoots + flowering (NSF; as for NS but plots were left to grow to reach late flowering from late summer to mid‐autumn). At each defoliation, measurements were made of phenology, dry matter production and herbage nutrient concentrations (neutral detergent fibre, crude protein, metabolisable energy and water‐soluble carbohydrate %). Persistence was measured at approximately 6‐month intervals. At both sites, lucerne persisted equally well in all treatments although SR showed some decline at Hamilton at the final measurement. LR led to a more productive pasture (in terms of cumulative dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, crude protein, metabolisable energy and water‐soluble carbohydrate %) than the three other treatments. The results indicate that phenological management systems that allow lucerne to replenish reserves through late summer and autumn are unnecessary in mild winter environments.

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“…Nevertheless, lucerne is poorly adapted to winter waterlogging (Hill, 1996), is sensitive to acidic soils and aluminum (Munns, 1965), and cannot tolerate continuous grazing (McKinney, 1974). The dryland cultivars of lucerne are selected based on survival during establishment, grazing tolerance (Humphries et al, 2006), general adaptation (Bouton, 2012) and persistence through drought conditions (Marshall et al, 2008). A key trait for the tolerance to water stress is the development of a large taproot in lucerne (Johnson and Tieszen, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lucerne and other perennial legumes provide new options for rain fed livestock production in the Mediterranean-climate region of Chile

et al. 2015

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C. Ovalle, S. Espinoza, V. Barahona, M. Gerding, A. Humphries, and A. del Pozo. 2015. Lucerne and other perennial legumes provide new options for rainfed livestock production in the Mediterranean-climate region of Chile. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(3): 461-474. In dryland Mediterranean environments, the productivity of annual legumes is low during autumn and winter, with plant senescence typically beginning by the middle of spring because of low soil water availability. Therefore, the use of deep-rooted perennial legumes may provide an alternative to annual legumes in regions with a soil moisture deficit. We evaluated the germplasm of new perennial legumes with deep rooting systems in two field experiments in the interior drylands of central Chile. In experiment 1, sixteen genotypes of four perennial legume species, nine cultivars (cvs.) of Medicago sativa, two of Hedysarum coronarium, three of Lotus tenuis, and two of Lotus corniculatus were evaluated for three seasons (2012-2014). In experiment 2, eight additional genotypes from two perennial legume species (M. sativa and H. coronarium) were evaluated between 2013 and 2015. Additionally, sixteen cultivars and accessions of M. sativa were evaluated in raised beds, with nine from Australia, two from Spain, two from California and three of Andean origin. We evaluated plant survival, nodulation, plant height at the end of the winter period and temporal distribution of biomass production. The persistence of M. sativa cultivars was high (over 80% survival after three years), but only the lucerne produced high yields (8-11 Mg ha-1 in the third season). Significant differences for winter production were detected among the lucerne cultivars, associated with their winter activity class, but no differences were found in total biomass production. The persistence of L. tenuis, L. corniculatus and H. coronarium was poor, and the biomass production was low, most likely because rhizobia failed to persist. Based on these preliminary results on perennial legumes, lucerne has great potential as a forage crop in the interior drylands of central Chile. However, more research on rhizobial strains, nodulation, plant growth and biomass accumulation, and root distribution and water use, among other factors, is required to better understand the persistence of perennial legumes in rain fed environments.

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Tolerance of Australian lucerne (Medicago sativa) germplasm to grazing by sheep

Cited by 26 publications

References 21 publications

Selection of grazing‐tolerant lucerne cultivars

Selection of grazing‐tolerant lucerne cultivars

Maximising lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) production with fixed‐length recovery intervals after defoliation in mild winter environments

Lucerne and other perennial legumes provide new options for rain fed livestock production in the Mediterranean-climate region of Chile

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