Lucerne and other perennial legumes provide new options for rain fed livestock production in the Mediterranean-climate region of Chile

Abstract

C. Ovalle, S. Espinoza, V. Barahona, M. Gerding, A. Humphries, and A. del Pozo. 2015. Lucerne and other perennial legumes provide new options for rainfed livestock production in the Mediterranean-climate region of Chile. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(3): 461-474. In dryland Mediterranean environments, the productivity of annual legumes is low during autumn and winter, with plant senescence typically beginning by the middle of spring because of low soil water availability. Therefore, the use of deep-rooted perennial legumes may provide an alternative to annual legumes in regions with a soil moisture deficit. We evaluated the germplasm of new perennial legumes with deep rooting systems in two field experiments in the interior drylands of central Chile. In experiment 1, sixteen genotypes of four perennial legume species, nine cultivars (cvs.) of Medicago sativa, two of Hedysarum coronarium, three of Lotus tenuis, and two of Lotus corniculatus were evaluated for three seasons (2012-2014). In experiment 2, eight additional genotypes from two perennial legume species (M. sativa and H. coronarium) were evaluated between 2013 and 2015. Additionally, sixteen cultivars and accessions of M. sativa were evaluated in raised beds, with nine from Australia, two from Spain, two from California and three of Andean origin. We evaluated plant survival, nodulation, plant height at the end of the winter period and temporal distribution of biomass production. The persistence of M. sativa cultivars was high (over 80% survival after three years), but only the lucerne produced high yields (8-11 Mg ha-1 in the third season). Significant differences for winter production were detected among the lucerne cultivars, associated with their winter activity class, but no differences were found in total biomass production. The persistence of L. tenuis, L. corniculatus and H. coronarium was poor, and the biomass production was low, most likely because rhizobia failed to persist. Based on these preliminary results on perennial legumes, lucerne has great potential as a forage crop in the interior drylands of central Chile. However, more research on rhizobial strains, nodulation, plant growth and biomass accumulation, and root distribution and water use, among other factors, is required to better understand the persistence of perennial legumes in rain fed environments.

Mutual Effect of Gypsum and Potassium on Nutrient Productivity in the Alfalfa–Grass Sward—A Case Study

“…The strongest values of the correlation coefficients were noted for Mn and K and were significantly lower for Fe and Cu. However, the stepwise regression analysis performed clearly pointed to FeUP and MnUP as the main predictors of the TY: TY = 11 − 0.24FeUP + 0.044MnUP for n = 30, R 2 = 0.87 and p ≤ 0.001 (11) The obtained regression model shows that the unit productivity of Mn accumulated (MnUP) in the alfalfa-grass mixture was too low and limited the TY. This index was driven by the GYP × POT interaction (Table 5, Figure 6).…”

“…Optimum temperatures fall within a wide range, from −5 • C (night frost) to +20 • C. In rainfed agriculture, optimal rainfall is in the range of 300 to 600 mm per year [9]. For this reason, production of this crop and its mixtures with grass species is widespread in temperate regions of the world [10,11]. Moreover, alfalfa has a naturally large root system and grows deeply into the soil to a depth of several meters.…”

Are Chilean Pasture Seed End-Users Adopting New Species? Trends and Joinpoint Regression Analysis of the Last 19 Years of Seed Imports

“…Legume species have great potential for production in the Mediterranean region of central Chile, because of plant survival under low rainfall conditions and the possibility to extend the growing period [42,43], but the higher CIF prices (nominal values) compared with ryegrasses and fescues could affect the adoption of these legumes by farmers (Figure S3). For instance, M. sativa is more tolerant of growth under limited water availability than a range of grasses, legumes and forage herbs species [44], and the persistence remains unchanged under different defoliation regimes [45].…”

“…Other forage legumes in temperate regions are less used [15] and have only a small place in the Chilean market. The evaluation in terms of yield and persistence is used to improve the animal production systems both in the Mediterranean production areas [43,51] and temperate ecosystems [17], characterized globally by a low adoption of annual legumes by farmers [52]. The successful development, particularly in Australia, of mainly annual legumes [53] and the new phenological stage scales developed for T. subterraneum and T. alexandrinum could help improve agronomical practices and increase the use of these less adopted species [54].…”

“…Forage breeding, from the range that comprises Mediterranean to Nordic areas, should improve plant strategies to face abiotic stresses and optimize growth and phenology to new seasonal changes [25]. Under these conditions, the introduction and evaluation of species or cultivars to extend the production period and increase productivity under rain-fed environments [43] is a first strategy to increase livestock productivity. For those with irrigation, strategies to improve water productivity to optimize forage production are documented [66,67].…”