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SARDI Seven Description
Description of “SARDI Seven” Lucerne (Medicago sativa)
A fact sheet of this variety is also available
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
SARDI Seven is a semi winter active lucerne variety, with a dormancy of 7. It has a broad, low crown producing many upright stems. The stems are fine and carry a high number of large round dark green leaves. The plants recover quickly after cutting and grazing.
SARDI Seven performs extremely well in challenging environments, particularly under irrigated conditions. This is a result of incorporating material in the breeding program that has survived under these difficult environments and strengthening this resistance through cycles of disease screening in the glasshouse.
SARDI Seven has very good broad base of disease resistance with no weakness to any of the major lucerne diseases or pests. (See disease resistance table/results for more detailed resistances to particular diseases).
The strong combination of pathogen resistance and grazing tolerance mean SARDI Seven is an extremely persistent variety.
BACKGROUND/BREEDING:
The field performance of 50 SARDI breeding lines of activity 6 or 7 led to the identification of 8 promising lines. Further review led to the selection of the most promising line which was further selected in both glasshouse and field plots.
SARDI Seven Parent Line Details
SARDI Seven traces to 90 parent plants selected for multiple disease resistance from populations of 3 SARDI breeders lines cross pollinated in the field over the summer of 1995/96. All parent plants survived sequential glasshouse inoculations with nematodes (Meloidogyne sp. or Ditylenchus dipsaci), Phytophthora root rot (Phytophthora megasperma), Anthracnoase (Colletotrichum trifolii), Spotted Alfalfa Aphid and Blue Green Aphid.
PRODUCT FIT/END USE:
The release of a winter active variety to replace Aurora, Trifecta, Hunter River and Hunterfield has been a priority of the breeding program. A winter activity of 6 to 7 has been targeted giving less winter production than cultivars such as Eureka (8) and Sceptre (9) but more than dormant or semi dormant cultivars such as Prime (3) and WL Southern Special (5 to 6).
A winter active variety of dormancy 7 is considered beneficial in situations where a persistent, high producing stand is required. This particularly suits the grazing situation where feed that is produced during the winter months can be utilized. There is also the opportunity (having better quality than highly winter actives), to make good quality hay.
Winter active varieties have not persisted well in the colder/harsh environments of southern Australia. Traditionally in this environment winter or semi-winter dormant varieties have been grown. SARDI Seven has proven itself to survive and be productive in these regions, and will produce more dry matter than dormant varieties. This means growers have the opportunity to grow a variety that will produce feed during the winter months, a period when feed is in demand.
SARDI Seven persists extremely well and is very tolerant of grazing, thus maintaining a highly productive stand. This will suit farmers that are more interested in stand longevity (with consistent production across a number of years), rather than maximising production in a given season.
SARDI Seven will provide a lucerne stand that will be more persistent than highly winter active and winter active varieties, have better quality and produce higher total dry matter than more winter dormant varieties.
FEATURES/BENEFITS:
BenefitFeature
Winter Activity Class 7
Versatile dormancy, gives good trade-off between persistence, production and quality
Suits a wide range of climates and management systems
Excellent pathogen resistance
Increases persistence
Security in a wide range of environments
Maintain a productive stand for longer
High yield and Persistent
More profitable
Resow less often, stand remains productive
Make better use of land (more productive)
Use up more moisture (less salinity)
Less weed invasion
More nitrogen into soil
Fine stems, large leaves
High quality forage, better than ‘old’ winter actives such as Hunterfield
Low crown
Tolerant of grazing, machinery trafficking, increases persistence
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE (over other winter actives, 6-7):
SARDI Seven has proven itself to be more persistent than other dormancy 7 varieties across a wide range of environments and farming systems. It also produces very competitive yields compared to varieties of similar dormancy (highest yield from 1996 sown trial at Gatton). The combination of having a high yielding variety that persists well gives SARDI Seven a competitive advantage over the other dormancy 7 varieties available.
SARDI Seven has very good disease/pest resistance and this means it performs very well under irrigation whereas many of the current winter active’s do not perform as well due to lower levels of pathogen resistance.
Lack of persistence, poor forage quality and low forage quantity are three factors that may be seen as limitations to current varieties. SARDI Seven overcomes these three problems and should therefore be the lucerne of choice when a high yielding, persistent variety is required.
SARDI Seven has shown the ability to persist as well as semi/winter dormant varieties in a number of trials. Being more active in the winter, SARDI Seven will produce more DM at this time of year than fully/semi dormant material while producing as much if not more in the summer.
DISEASE/PEST RESISTANCE:
SARDI Seven has undergone glasshouse testing against the major relevant cultivars, for SAA, BGA, Phytophthora and Anthracnose resistance as well as stem nematode.
SARDI Seven has an excellent disease/pathogen resistance profile. This provides a level of insurance that the variety will perform in a wide range of environments that may include a number of diseases in combination. This is often the case where lucerne has been grown previously, irrigation generally multiplying the effect. SARDI Seven performs exceptionally well under these conditions, outperforming the other lucerne varieties in this dormancy class.
