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SARDI Ten Description
Description of “SARDI Ten” Lucerne (Medicago sativa)
Alan Humphries, Eric Kobelt, and Geoff Auricht
A fact sheet of this variety is also available
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
SARDI Ten is a highly winter active variety, with a tall canopy and a dormancy class of 10. It has an erect crown with fine to medium stem thickness, and carries a high number of large green leaves from nodes throughout the length of the stem. The plants recover very quickly after cutting and grazing.
SARDI Ten performs well in both irrigated and dryland environments, and is well suited to rotations where maximum winter production is required. SARDI Ten is bushier and more tolerant to grazing than other highly winter active varieties. This is a result of incorporating material in the breeding program that has survived under difficult environments (such as heavy grazing on sheep properties and intensive management on grazing dairies) and strengthening this resistance through cycles of disease screening in the glasshouse.
SARDI Ten has 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 high winter activity, pathogen resistance and field performance mean SARDI Ten is a highly productive variety.
BACKGROUND/BREEDING:
SARDI Ten traces to 60 parent plants from 14 breeders lines selected for (1) persistence and winter production in a field environment; (2) multiple disease resistance; and (3) seed production. The tallest, most winter active plants were selected from each of these breeding lines and crossed together to form the parent plants in a new synthetic.
In total, stem cuttings were taken from a total of 174 plants with superior winter vigour and disease free appearance. Cuttings were used to test the reaction to Phytophthora root rot (Phytophthora megasperma), Anthracnose (Colletotrichum trifolii), Spotted Alfalfa Aphid and Blue Green Aphid. Based on reaction to the four screens, 102 parents were rejected and 72 parents were kept, which showed resistance to two or more of the 4 screens. 270 of these 72 parent clones were planted in the field to maximise crossing between the clones. The clones were scored twice for pod set, and 12 of the worst parents were eliminated as maternal parents before seed harvest. Seed from the synthetic was harvested as L904, and was sown in 2000 to produce breeders seed of ‘SARDI Ten’. Breeders Geoff Auricht and Eric Kobelt, SARDI, SA.
PRODUCT FIT/END USE:
A highly winter active variety of dormancy 10 is considered beneficial in situations where there is a winter-feed deficit. This particularly suits (but is not limited to) Mediterranean climates with a winter dominant rainfall pattern. The quick regrowth of SARDI Ten is desired in farming systems with intensive management, such as grazing dairy farms. This highly winter active lucerne will maximise production during the winter months that typically receive the majority of rainfall.
DISEASE/PEST RESISTANCE:
SARDI Ten has undergone glasshouse testing against the major relevant cultivars, for resistance to spotted alfalfa and blue green aphids, Phytophthora and Anthracnose, as well as stem nematode.
SARDI Ten 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 there is a long history of lucerne production, with irrigation generally multiplying the effect. SARDI Ten performs exceptionally well under these conditions, outperforming the other lucerne varieties in this dormancy class. Table 1. shows SARDI Ten’s broad pathogen resistance profile.
Table 1. Target disease and insect resistance of ‘grazing tolerant’ lucerne cultivar
| Spotted Alfalfa Aphid | Blue Green aphid | Phytophthora Root Rot | Anthracnose* |
|---|---|---|---|
| R (30%) | R (30%) | R (42%) | R (30%) |
*Colletotrichum trifolii races 1 and 4.
TRIAL RESULTS:
SARDI Ten has the maximum amount of winter activity available in lucerne germplasm at the time of its development. SARDI Ten demonstrates exceptional seedling vigour, and regrowth vigour after cutting/grazing. These two traits make this variety noticeable different to other lucernes’ sold in Australia; and have created enormous demand for its seed.
The excellent persistence of SARDI Ten has been broadly demonstrated across a range of environments and farming systems in Australia. Results of persistence are presented (figures 1-4) for Monteith (Irrigated grazing dairy in SA with high disease pressure, stem nematode), Howlong (NSW, cutting management on highly acidic soil), Cootamundra (intensive grazing on acidic soil) and Inglewood (Qld, Irrigation, heavy soil, high disease pressure).
Whilst there is generally some trade-off between very high winter activity and persistence, SARDI Ten has shown to have equal or greater persistence than other winter activity class 9 lucerne varieties in Australia. A summary of the persistence observed in trials sown across Australia is shown in figure 5.
Figure 1. Persistence of highly winter active lucerne cultivars at Monteith, SA, after 4 years of intensive grazing dairy management. Monteith has a long history of lucerne production, which has created a high disease pressure environment. Stem nematode is particularly severe at this site. Another major stress is the trampling and urine scalds from Dairy cattle. SARDI Ten has performed exceptionally well at this site, with greater persistence than all other highly winter active cultivars.
Figure 2. Persistence of highly winter active lucerne cultivars at Cootamundra, NSW after 4 years. The results reflect persistence under persistent sheep grazing where strict rotational management can not be practiced. The results illustrate why SARDI Ten is a popular choice for farmers with cropping rotations where maximum winter production is desired, but control of grazing pressure in large paddocks is difficult.
Figure 3. Persistence, quality and vigour of highly winter active lucerne cultivars at Howlong in NSW. Howlong is situated on an acidic clay loam, that is considered marginal for lucerne production. SARDI Ten’s performance is outstanding in comparison to ‘Rippa’, the only other winter active class 10 variety, and in most cases is significantly better than winter active class 9 varieties. The results show that SARDI Ten has an excellent combination of vigour and density, and is able to maintain high quality (or leafiness) in comparison to the other highly winter active 10 variety (Rippa).
Figure 4. Persistence and Yield under irrigation and hay cutting at Inglewood, Queensland after 4 years. This is a high disease pressure, sub-tropical on a heavy black soil. The persistence and herbage yield SARDI Ten is far greater than Rippa, the other winter active 10, and at least equal to winter active class 8-9 varieties.
Figure (5). Average Persistence of highly winter active lucerne cultivars in Australia, after 4 years. These results represent the results from up to 9 trials sown between 1999 and 2002. The results show, with the exception of SARDI Ten, that there is a decline in persistence with increasing winter activity. SARDI Ten’s persistence is equal or greater than winter activity class 8-9 lucerne varieties and much greater than other varieties with winter activity class (>9).
