RESEARCH WORK ON LUCERNE OVERSEAS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27664, 21 May 1955, Page 5

RESEARCH WORK ON LUCERNE OVERSEAS

Wealth Of Material Available

POSSIBILITIES FOR N.Z. DESCRIBED TO FARMERS' CONFERENCE

World wide interest which is at present being shown in lucerne opens up great possibilities for New Zealand in the breeding and selection of special strains and varieties to produce specially well in difficult environments such as the South Island high country. Mr C. E. Iversen of Lincoln College, who has recently returned from a year spent overseas mainly in a study of lucerne developments at the chief scientific centres of Britain, Europe and North America, described to the Lincoln College Farmers’ Conference this week some of the work, and suggested where it might fit into the New Zealand grassland economy.

Mr Iversen’s paper was the outstanding contribution to the conference. It showed that interest in lucerne has become intensified in recent years, and that a wealth of plant material exists from which plant breeders are evolving and selecting new strains to suit environments unfriendly to the relatively small range of older strains. At a time when New Zealand farmers are rapidly expanding their areas of lucerne both for hay and grazing, Mr Iversen’s information is of the greatest importance. The paper was »rereived with great enthusiasm by the conference.

Pujts outyields other varieties for the first two years, but after that it may become weakened in unfavourable environments. “William Davies, Director of the Grasslands Research Station at Hurley, has as an aim the production of yearround pasture, and lucerne features strongly in his programme for high summer production,” said Mr Iversen. “He believes in a non-competitive companion grass as it increases yield and palatability and keeps out swardforming grasses such as ryegrass, Poa trivialis or browntop. Cocksfoot, timothy and meadow fescue are used at 21b, the choice depending on the rainfall.

“Crossing to France we find an interesting figure in Dr. Mayer at Versailles, who has sorted out the tangle of French lucerne. Dr. Mayer is working on an interesting programme quite against the beliefs of workers of the U.S.A. He is inbreeding different lines of lucerne to find strains which suffer little loss of vigour. From these he may compound hybrids along the lines of hybrid corn.

Mr Iversen used a chart to show the development of the known modern .strains of lucerne from three original strains known thousands of years ago in Asia Minor. One strain, Medicago sativa, came from, the warm, fertile valleys, and a second, M. falcata, from the hard and barren hills and mountains. M. sativa was an erect, highproducing plant, but frost-tender and susceptible to disease. M. falcata was a prostrate, and very low-producing plant, but hardy and resistant to disease. In between these two was M. media, which was intermediate in all its main characteristics. From these three, and various crosses between then, all the known strains had come. Just Lucerne “Until fairly recently lucerne was just lucerne (or alfalfa) but with the spread of the plant to less suitable localities disease and the effect of adverse environment have highlighted the need to obtain new sources of plant material. Consequently, it is desirable to know what material is available,” said Mr Iversen. “A further reason for understanding the background of the world’s strains of lucerne is the world-wide problem of seed production which results in all except the most favoured localities having to import seed from time to time. An account of the characterisr tics of the three main species and of the natural and bred strains derived from them is given in Table I. “"Hie classification of the natural strains is easily followed from their historical background,” he said. “Lucerne originated lit Asia Minor and spread to Greece in 470 B.C. and later to the Roman Empire. It acquired its name from the valley of Lucerne. This introduction was of the M. sativa type. Other emigrations brought in the M. media species and crosses between them. Thus in Europe we find fairly pur# M. sativa types such as Provence, M. media types as in the German and Poitou strains, and intermediates such as tiie Flamande strains. Another line of emigration was across North Africa and .to Spain under the Moorish influence. whence it received its name of alfalfa. This was a fairly pure M. sativa type. Spaniards introduced alfalfa to Chile in Elizabethan times and from here it spread across the Andes to Argentina and Uruguay, and also north to Peru. Here lucerne found a suitable home and some 17,000,000 acres are devoted to its culture, nearly 40 per cent, of the world’s acreage. ’ Gold Rushes The gold rushes In California 100 years ago took Chilean alfalfa to western America, where it found ideal conditions, but it did not spread widely in the eastern States for many years as winter cold, acid soils, and deficient minerals, did not encourage its use. A series of droughts in the years 1927-36 aroused interest in lucerne and it spread to about 10.000,000 to 12,000,000 acres in the Middle West. This time it met an unsuitable environment, and seed bed preparation, inoculation, liming, and adequate fertilisation were required. The non-hardy sativa type was not winter hardy but an introduction of a variegated lucerne by a German immigrant, Wendelm Grimm, and of an Indian strain, Ladock, gave the answer to this problem. Next came the disease bacterial wilt, which was partly answered by using the Caucasian strain Cossack, and Ladak. Turkestan, another Caucasian strain, while low in production had excellent wilt resistance. A combination of these gave rise to very resistant strains in Ranger and Vernal. Other pests and diseases created problems to be met by choice of new strains or by breeding to the hardy falcata parent. “It is thus apparent that where no problems arise, M. sativa is the principal strain used, but where any degree of hardiness is called for, more or less falcata blood is indicated,” he said. “Put another way—where the environment can be fitted to lucerne, sativa strains are used. Where lucerne has to be fitted to the environment, then falcata crosses are required. The sativa strains are classified as nonhardy. This includes Hunter River, Argentine, South African, Provence and American Common. When our seed stocks are in short supply these are our main centres of obtaining seed. Some of them are hot satisfactory for South Island use.. "Our own Marlborough is usually considered to be a Provence type, although first supplies came from the Argentine. However, it exhibits a great deal more variegation and is superior to many of the> pure sativa types for our environment. The division of strains is somewhat artificial in that lucerne is a cross-pollinated plant and is probably capable of more change in an environment than any other field crop. Vigorous Testing “At Cambridge, in England, vigorous testing has been carried out on a world collection of strains by Zaleski,” said Mr Iversen. “The climate there is severe in the winter, the soils are often waterlogged, and there can be severe summer drought. The nonhardy M. sativa types do not show up at all well. Zaleski found a close correlation between total production, spring earliness, autumn productivity, earliness of flowering, growth habit (erect to prostrate) and size of leaf, and on this system rates the strains in order of merit, placing Flamande first, then Pedigree Marlborough, Marlborough, Provence, Hunter River, Argentine, Grimm, Rhizoma and Nomad in that order. Winter mortality of Provence, Hunter River and Argentine was severe. Zaleski considered the test of a good variety to be earliness in spring, early flowering, productivity m autumn, erectness, and a long, wide leaflet. “At Zaleski's station, Flamande types were easily superior. Fault may be found with their stemming nature, but for North Island areas where grass invasion is a severe problem, the early and late growth of this type is a strong deterrent In Lincoln trials a Flamande strain. De Puits, shows these characteristics but is not mark-

“In the United States each State has some programme of lucerne breedin, but Tysdal of Nebraska, Grandfield of Kansas, and Graber of Wisconsin are particularly active. Larry Graber is a most colourful figure and is known locally as “Mr Alfalfa.’ By his efforts Wisconsin, within his working life, has increased its lucerne area from 40,000 to 2,250,000 acres in spite of the most inhospitable environment, and consequently all the pests and diseases possible.- With Graber’s example before us we need not fear if new diseases and. troubles beset our lucerne.”

In the Middle Western states of America, lucerne was fast displacing the traditional pastures of Timothy and red clover, said Mr Iversen. In California interest was in lucerne seed production, where conditions were ideal, and for this special strains setting a lot of seed had been developed. Zaleski pointed to a defect in Marlborough, in that the keel of the flower takes an excessive pressure to make it trip, and this made it difficult for bees to fertilise the seeds. A selection within the Marlborough strain for easily tripped flowers might overcome this.

Branching Roots “We now come to the last development—the production of rhizomatous and creeping-rooted strains,” Mr Iversen continued. “M. falcata has a characteristic of producing branched roots, and crosses with sativa show some of this character, and back crosses on to M. falcata may give even greater amounts of root proliferation than the M. falcata parent. Natural strains of rhizomatous lucernes may be found. One is M. glutinosa, which is under selection here at Lincoln, and another is Nomad,, or Burlingham Creeping, found in Oregon. Both are smallleaved prostrate, short-season types, and by Zaleski’s definition are inferior But Zaleski is testing lucerne for hay production on rich soil and not for sheep pastures on light stony plains. Further selection within the strain may give higher-producing lines. “Breeding work to achieve this same end was commenced by Dr. Moe of Vancouver in 1928 and has resulted in the release of the variety Rhizoma, a cross between Don and Ontario Variegated, or Grimm. It produces rhizomatous branches up to six inches long from a crown two to three inches under the surface. It is a good summer producer, drought resistant, and winter hardy, and in the Lincoln Trials it is a superior strain. “The most interesting material in the lucerne world is undoubtedly Heinrichs’ creeping-rooted lucerne,” he said. “While not yet bred to the status of a strain, releases of cuttings to various stations in the United States have created a tremendous wave of interest. This plant is not rhizomatous, but has a creeping root from which stem branches arise. One three-year-old plant seen was nine feet across, and had 286 separate crowns. The object of breeding this strain was to obtain a perennial legume for the range lands which would withstand frost heave in the intense winter, would regenerate even if the parent root-stock died and woiild be more drought resistant. It was considered that a plant spreading by root branches would be superior even to one with rhizomes. Rhizomes depend on surface moisture for their spread whereas creeping roots can spread in arid soil. Breeding Material “The main parents of this strain are Ladak and Siberian. With this percentage, and selected under the adverse climate of Saskatchewan, it obviously will not be a high producing plant. For New Zealand its use may be limited to a source of breeding material, but possibly the arid areas of Otago Central may one day blossom with its variegated flowers. “What, then, are the lessons from overseas for New Zealand? First, with 1000 miles of latitude, variations in altitude, from sea level to 2000 ft and considerable variations in rainfall, it seems obvious that one variety is inadequate. The sub-humid areas of Canterbury, Marlborough and Hawke's Bay are probably well catered for by a dominantly sativa strain such as Marlborough. However, in Canterbury at higher altitudes on less suitable soils a greater infusion of falcata blood may be superior. Grimm may be a preferred strain here as it may in Otago Central with its severe winter. “Du Puits should be tested in humid districts where grass invasion may be held at bay by its early spring and late autumn growth. The English practice of sowing a non-competitive grass, such as timothy, for the same purpose should also be tested.

"At times of seed scarcity when importation is necessary the suitability of the strain for New Zealand requires more consideration. A good variegated strain may be superior to Hunter River or South African. Certified Provence is a suitable strain. Likewise Zaleski’s suggestion of selecting a Marlborough strain with a flower less difficult to trip should be investigated and likewise the American approach of selecting high seed producing strains. Finally, tests should be made of the possibilities of creeping lucernes for grazing pastures on light lands, a project in hand at Lincoln.”

edly superior. Flanande lucerne does not stand gazing. In yield trials in England, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden. Oregon and

HELP FOR STUDENTS

A contribution ot £lOO was made this week to the Lincoln College Old Students* Association by the Southland Frozen Meat Company. The gift will be added to the Jubilee Loan Fund which old students created to provide temporary financial accommodation for students, who during their course, run short of money and so may be unable to complete thenstudies. Loans made are repayable by students in the next few years following the completion of their course at Lincoln, and many have been