| |
Two new lines of narrowleaf and big trefoil
plants from the Agricultural Research
Service should help breeders develop improved forages for livestock and
wildlife.
Trefoil species provide excellent nutrition. Unlike alfalfa, these forages
don't cause bloating. They also tolerate marginal production conditions such as
dry, saline, or flooded soils. Because trefoils are legumes, they fix nitrogen
into the soil for later use by grasses and forbs. This can reduce the need for
fertilizer.
The ultimate goal of ARS agronomist Jeffrey J. Steiner and geneticist Paul R.
Beuselinck is to increase forage quality on pastureland. That way, farmers
won't have to purchase as much feed to supplement the diets of their livestock
that graze on pastures.
The popularity of birdsfoot trefoil, a related species, has grown steadily over
the past few decades. But growers have only been able to obtain a few
commercial varieties of big trefoil, and those were not bred for U.S. farm
conditions. No commercial varieties of narrowleaf trefoil are available.
Both of the new releases—ARS-1207 narrowleaf trefoil and ARS-1221 big
trefoil— combine the characteristics of dozens of different genetic
populations that were collected from around the world. These populations, known
as accessions, are stored in the ARS-managed National Plant Germplasm System.
"This seed is intended for breeders, not farmers," says Steiner.
"The germplasm enables breeders to evaluate all available characteristics
for each species without individually testing each accession." That way,
he says, breeders can use the releases to develop varieties adapted to local
conditions.
The narrowleaf line descends from 41 different accessions originally collected
in about a dozen countries. The big trefoil germplasm incorporates more than 80
accessions from at least 8 countries.
Big trefoil grows in warmer, wetter areas than birdsfoot trefoil. Narrowleaf
trefoil prefers drier, warmer areas that may be saline.
Researchers and breeders can obtain small amounts of seed from Steiner.—By
Kathryn Barry
Stelljes, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
Jeffrey J. Steiner is in the
USDA-ARS Forage Seed and
Cereal Research Unit, 3450 S.W. Campus Way, Corvallis, OR 97331-7102; phone
(541) 750-8734, fax (541) 750-8750.
Paul R. Beuselinck is in
the USDA-ARS Plant Genetics
Research Unit, University of Missouri, Waters Hall, Room 207, Columbia, MO
65211; phone (573) 882-6406, fax (573) 882-1467. |
Share/Bookmark