Summary

After 3 years of legume species evaluation in WA in areas with annual rainfall from 200 mm to 450 mm , albo tedera was found to one of the most drought tolerant and productive herbaceous forage legumes evaluated in Australia. During two of the driest summer/autumns on record in WA (2006/2007 and 2007/2008), plants of albo tedera remained green without shedding its leaves and was far superior to lucerne under the same conditions. Albo tedera also tolerates grazing as part of a mixed sward and importantly, competes well with annual species. The project “Perennial forage legumes for cropping systems in a drying climate” funded by the FFI CRC is breeding albo tedera for low rainfall Mediterranean climates. The UWA/DAFWA project funded by RIRDC in 2007 “Drought tolerance of novel perennial legumes” is conducting glasshouse and field trials to characterise the mechanisms conferring drought tolerance to albo tedera and other forage legumes. However, none of these existing projects in Australia or elsewhere in the world will be conducting research into the technology required for commercial seed production . This research is a key issue for the seed industry and is fundamental for commercialisation and adoption of the promising species. Within this project we propose to (a) characterise the variability amongst 20 accessions in time of flowering, flowering pattern, pod development, pod shedding and seed germinability; (b) research the technologies available for harvest operation (c) study the effect of water stress on seed production.

Program

Pasture Seeds

Research Organisation

Western Australian Agriculture Authority, a body corporate established under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007

Objective Summary

The objectives of this proposal are:
(i) to understand factors influencing seed production in albo tedera
(ii) to develop large scale and low cost technologies for harvesting and seed processing