Breeding improved lucernes for sustainable farming systems
in eastern Australia.
Rex W. Williams
NSW Department of Agriculture, Tamworth C.C.I., NSW, Australia 2304
The area of lucerne (alfalfa) in Australia has doubled in the past decade. Lucerne is now being widely used in phased rotations with crops to increase grain yields and proteins while reducing the impact of periodic drought and land degradation. There are only two breeding programs in Australia delivering improved lucernes for this use. Our program in New South Wales (NSW) has successfully bred improved lucernes for sustainable farming systems for over twenty years. NSW-bred cultivars have generally shown increased resistance to pests and diseases combined with better adaptation to heavy soils, extensive grazing and/or periodic drought than earlier cultivars. All releases are synthetic populations developed using recurrent phenotypic selection among and within half-sib families.
We released ‘Nova’ in 1979 as the first Australian-bred lucerne resistant to spotted alfalfa aphids. ‘Aurora’ followed in 1986 to become the most popular cultivar in Australia. In 1994, ‘Aquarius’ became the first cultivar to exploit a dominant major gene for high resistance to phytophthora root rot. ’Genesis’ followed in 1997 as a high yielding winter-active cultivar for hay crops and pastures. ‘Venus’ is being released to replace the adapted but aphid-susceptible, ‘Hunter River’ in rain-fed pastures. ‘Venus’ generally out-yields ‘Hunter River’ while maintaining relatively thick stands under grazing (Figure 1). ‘Venus’ is also highly resistant to spotted alfalfa aphids.
Current aims are to continue to develop both improved lucernes and improved means of utilising lucerne for sustainable cropping systems. This is a major interstate project partially supported by the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation.