Future applications of lucerne for efficient livestock production in southern Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 909 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Humphries
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Fodder Crop ◽  
Breeding Objectives ◽  
Dairy Systems ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
Herbaceous Perennial ◽  
Careful Management

Lucerne is a deep-rooted herbaceous perennial legume with high levels of summer production and adaptation to a broad range of agro-ecological environments in southern Australia. The ability of lucerne to extend the growing season of winter-based pasture and respond quickly to rainfall after periods of drought makes it one of the most valuable plants in our feed base. However, for all the advantages of lucerne, it remains underutilised. Lucerne is often considered to be a speciality fodder crop, requiring careful management to achieve high levels of production and persistence. This paper investigates the opportunity of whole-farm integration of lucerne; from speciality fodder crop to traditional pasture. The future trends of lucerne production in temperate grazing and intensive dairy systems are discussed in relation to breeding objectives identified to meet these demands. If lucerne is to be used more commonly as a pasture, the plant and systems must adapt. This paper investigates the plant traits and management principles that are important for growing lucerne in mixtures with other plants and improving the integration of lucerne into the whole-farm plan.

Selection and breeding strategies for sustainable livestock production in developing countries, with particular reference to dairy cattle production

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. J. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Field Performance ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Breeding Strategies ◽  
Variable Environments ◽  
Breeding Objectives ◽  
Breed Improvement ◽  
The Tropics

AbstractBreeding strategies for sustainable livestock production in developing countries are discussed with reference to breeding objectives in more uniform environments of temperate regions and to those in stressful and highly variable environments of the tropics. The relative importance of breeding objectives to be based not on single performance traits but also on fitness traits is discussed in relation to production efficiency. With particular reference to breeding strategies for dairy production the following aspects are referred to: assessment of scope for performance improvement; the rôle of local breeds in stressful environments; the need for potential assessment and options for breed improvement; the use of exotic breeds; and the need for comparative field performance test as part of improvement schemes.

Pre-dispersal seed predation by the weevils Trichapion rostrum and Tychius sordidus limits reproductive output of Baptisia alba (Fabaceae)

Botany ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (8) ◽  
pp. 809-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Hembrough ◽  
Victoria A. Borowicz
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Seed Predation ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Pollen Limitation ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Prairie Restoration ◽  
Seed Number ◽  
Nutrient Supplementation ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
Herbaceous Perennial

Baptisia alba (L.) Vent., an herbaceous, perennial legume, produces more flowers than will mature into pods. Single-year experiments on two reconstructed prairies tested the hypothesis that reproductive potential of B. alba depends on nutrients, but pollen limitation and pre-dispersal seed predation by weevils reduce final production. Ramets were assigned one of four treatments that were combinations of fertilizer (none/70 g fertilizer twice) and insect barrier (none/application of Tanglefoot). Within inflorescences, flowers were naturally pollinated or supplemented with pollen. Fertilizer produced no effects, suggesting that B. alba are unresponsive within a season to nutrient supplementation. Pollen supplementation increased pod initiation at the two sites by 6.7% and 2.3%, respectively, but did not affect the proportion of initiated pods that matured or seed number within pods. Where Tychius sordidus occurred, only 67 pods matured on 19 ramets and only four seeds survived. Where only Trichapion rostrum was present, insect barrier increased pod maturation almost three-fold, but did not affect seed number within pods. Barrier treatment increased the reproductive output of entire ramets by increasing seed production, from 3.6 seeds·ramet−1 to 60.5 seeds·ramet−1. Prairie restoration frequently uses fruit collected from other populations. Managers should be careful to avoid the unintended introduction of voracious seed predators.

Genetic variation in five populations of strawberry clover (Trifolium fragiferum cv. Palestine) in Western Australia

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 1445 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. McDonald ◽  
P. S. Cocks ◽  
M. A. Ewing
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Total Variation ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Principal Components ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Field Station ◽  
The North ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
The University

Genetic variation within and among populations of an outcrossing stoloniferous perennial legume, strawberry clover (Trifolium fragiferum L.), was studied using seed collected from 5 different locations in Western Australia. The sites ranged from Badgingarra to the north of the wheatbelt to Karridale in the southwest of the state. Seed was collected randomly at each site and was grown out at the University of Western Australia Field Station at Shenton Park, Perth. Thirteen morphological plant traits were measured and analysed. Results show that within-population variation was extremely high. In contrast, among-population variation was generally low with most characters showing only 8–15% of the total variation. Despite this, all but 1 of the measured plant traits differed among populations. Principal components analysis highlighted the large amount of variation within the populations with the first 3 principal components accounting for only 59% of the total variation. We suggest that the populations have begun to differentiate into ecotypes more suited to those habitats into which they have been sown but that within-population variation remains high due to the outcrossing nature of strawberry clover.

Forage and Livestock Production Following Oak (Quercusspp.) Control with Tebuthiuron

Weed Science ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Scifres ◽  
Jerry W. Stuth ◽  
Donald R. Kirby ◽  
Raymond F. Angell
Keyword(s):  
Growing Season ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Botanical Composition ◽  
Perennial Species ◽  
Native Grass ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Post Oak

Aerial applications of 20% tebuthiuron JA/-[5-(1,1- dimethylethyl) - 1, 3, 4 - thiadiazol-2 -yl] -N, N' dimethylurea pellets at 2.2 or 4.4 kg/ha in the spring to heavy brush cover in Texas Post Oak Savannah did not increase the amount of grass, compared to that of untreated pastures, until the growing season after application. By the second growing season after tebuthiuron application, however, native grass stands were composed of a higher proportion of perennial species of good-to-excellent grazing value than were stands on adjacent, untreated rangeland. Tebuthiuron at 4.4 kg/ha did not improve botanical composition of grass stands, but increased the amount of grass during the second and third growing season after application compared to those where 2.2 kg/ha were applied. Daily steer gains were increased in one experiment in the fall after application of 2.2 kg/ha of tebuthiuron in the spring, but were unchanged after two growing seasons in another. Days of available grazing were increased, however, by the second or third growing season after treatment with 2.2 kg/ha of the herbicide in both experiments.

scholarly journals Insights into the evolution of symbiosis gene copy number and distribution from a chromosome-scale Lotus japonicus Gifu genome sequence

DNA Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Kamal ◽  
Terry Mun ◽  
Dugald Reid ◽  
Jie-Shun Lin ◽  
Turgut Yigit Akyol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Sequence ◽  
Reference Genome ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Lotus Japonicus ◽  
Gene Copy Number ◽  
Genetic Maps ◽  
Gene Copy ◽  
Expression Data ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
Herbaceous Perennial

Abstract Lotus japonicus is a herbaceous perennial legume that has been used extensively as a genetically tractable model system for deciphering the molecular genetics of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Our aim is to improve the L. japonicus reference genome sequence, which has so far been based on Sanger and Illumina sequencing reads from the L. japonicus accession MG-20 and contained a large fraction of unanchored contigs. Here, we use long PacBio reads from L. japonicus Gifu combined with Hi-C data and new high-density genetic maps to generate a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome assembly for L. japonicus. The assembly comprises 554 megabases of which 549 were assigned to six pseudomolecules that appear complete with telomeric repeats at their extremes and large centromeric regions with low gene density. The new L. japonicus Gifu reference genome and associated expression data represent valuable resources for legume functional and comparative genomics. Here, we provide a first example by showing that the symbiotic islands recently described in Medicago truncatula do not appear to be conserved in L. japonicus.

Pollen Limitation and Population Growth in a Herbaceous Perennial Legume

Ecology ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 652-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Ehrlen ◽  
Ove Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Pollen Limitation ◽  
Perennial Legume ◽  
Herbaceous Perennial
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