In this section:
Lucerne Breeding Program
SARDI has an international lucerne breeding program with an emphasis on developing improved lucerne varieties for Australian farming systems. The program is run in collaboration with our commercial partner Heritage Seeds Pty Ltd.
The program has a strong history of releasing market leading lucerne varieties, with Hunterfield, Sceptre, Eureka, and the current SARDI series of varieties “SARDI Five”, “SARDI Seven” and “SARDI Ten” all developed from this program.
Information on which type of lucerne is most suitable for you.
The strength of the SARDI program comes from the amount of field testing we do to develop confidence in the performance of our varieties before they are released. We have on-farm trials in every major lucerne growing district in Australia, spread across beef, wool, dairy and hay production enterprises in irrigated and dryland environments.
Locations of SARDI lucerne trial sites.
The SARDI lucerne breeding program activity areas;
- The Heritage Seeds Core Project
- Acid tolerant lucerne and rhizobia, partly funded by the FFI CRC
- Drought tolerant perennials, funded by the FFI CRC
- Implementing water use efficiency and establishing new varieties of perennial pastures within the Upper Mt Lofty Ranges, funded by Caring for our Country.
- Lucerne for Mallee Environments, funded by Centre for Natural Resource Management
- Response of lucerne to drought, funded by the SA Government
- Lucerne for inter-rows in orchards or vineyards
For more information contact:
Alan Humphries, Phone 08 8303 9651
