Prediction of coumestrol content in unirrigated lucerne crops using weather variables

Variation of Phytoestrogen Content and Major Agronomic Traits in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Populations

“…Many factors affect the content of phytoestrogens including genetic factors (plant genotype), environmental conditions (temperature, rainfall, humidity, sunlight), biotic factors (fungal diseases), stages of maturity (early vegetative-late flower), stand age of alfalfa, plant parts (leaves, stems and flowers), management strategies (cutting frequency), and preservation method [16,26,33,34]. Conducted studies and currently available data on quantification of the phytoestrogen content in alfalfa show that their amount is highly variable and results are very often inconsistent [35,36].…”

“…Also, good weather conditions during the alfalfa vegetation period in both years, favorable air temperatures and higher total amount of precipitation, compared to the long-term average (Table 1), certainly contributed to the higher phytoestrogen accumulation in the studied alfalfa populations. While developing a model to predict coumestrol content in non-irrigated alfalfa crops using weather variables Fields et al [34] concluded that rainfall is a major component in the model. They determined that during wet years with a lot of rainfall coumestrol contents are elevated.…”

Coumestrol content in alfalfabreeding populations

“…1, a, b), could have contributed to the increased coumestrol accumulation in the studied populations. Fields et al (2019) obtained similar results while developing a model to predict coumestrol content in non-irrigated alfalfa crops using weather variables and concluded that rainfall is a major component in the model. According to these authors if total rainfall was between 61 and 131 mm during alfalfa regrowth period coumestrol content is likely to be moderately high (58.4 mg/kg of DM), while with total rainfall over 131 mm and more than 17 days with relative humidity above 95 % coumestrol level was predicted to be high (163 mg/kg of DM).…”

“…Likewise, high rainfall and humidity conditions during July, when leaf samples were collected in this experiment, could have caused fungal foliar diseases. These diseases according to Fields et al (2019) can cause a defense reaction leading to elevated coumestrol levels in alfalfa. Sampling of leaves at a later vegetative stage may have also contributed to the increased accumulation of coumestrol in our study, which is consistent with previously reported results (Hanson et al, 1965;Seguin et al, 2004).…”

“…In Medicago species, coumestrol production is less infl uenced by genetic factors, and plant selection/ breeding usually will not be effective for controlling its content (Reed, 2016). Wide variation in coumestrol content is affected by numerous factors such as environmental conditions (temperature, rainfall, humidity, sunlight), cultivar, stressed conditions (especially by fungal diseases, insect infestation and nutrient defi ciencies), stages of maturity, plant parts analyzed, management strategies and stand age of crops (Seguin et al, 2004;Aragadvay-Yungán et al, 2017;Fields et al, 2018b;Fields et al, 2019;Tucak et al, 2020). Fungal pathogens are considered as the main factor that increases coumestrol content in alfalfa.…”