The Australian Medicago Genetic Resource Centre (AMGRC) is maintained by the South Australian Research and Development Institute in Adelaide, Australia. The Centre has a forty year history and houses 34,500 accessions of over 100 genera and 600 species from 52 countries. This includes the World’s largest Medicago collection with some 23,000 annual medics and 1,500 perennial accessions. The other accessions comprise 8,000 other pasture legumes covering 45 genera along with 2,000 pasture grasses.

Recent Activities:

1)Collection

The AMGRC collection is growing by an average of 830 accessions each year. These are obtained mostly from collection activities involving Australians. Recent collections include:

These collections have been coordinated through the Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA), University of WA, Nedlands, WA.

2) Characterisation

The AMGRC annually grows some 1,000 accessions for characterisation and preliminary evaluation. Accessions are grown in 4m rows containing 25 spaced plants. In recent years the emphasis has shifted from Medicago to other genera. Activities are summarised in the following table:

*Includes Astragalus, Hymenocarpos, Lotus, Scorpiurus and Trigonella.

Data on over 30 characteristics is recorded from these rows. Seed is harvested and samples stored to international standards at -20^oC and 2^oC.

The AMGRC has an extensive database of passport, characterisation, seed inventory and other collection details. More information is available on the SARDI web site (www.sardi.sa.gov.au/livestck/pastures/pastures.htm).

Future genetic resources plans include a Rhizobium collection in North Africa and a pasture legume collection missions in Central Asia and China.

Auricht et al. 1998. The Characterisation and Preliminary Evaluation of Medicago and Trifolium Germplasm. Aust. J. of Ag. Res. In press.