1. Royal is a synthetic variety developed in 1988 by mass selection in 2 to 8 year old hay fields planted with semidormant alfalfas. The selections were made from fields totaling over 3C0 acres in the northern San Joaquin and southern Sacramento Vale,s of California. The plants were potted and rog~ed f~r agronomic characteristics reducing the popi.lation by about Z%. The 178 remaining plants were planted ur.der cage in 1983 near Woodland, CA and iriterpollinated using leaf cutter and honey bees to produce breeder seed (syn 1). The plants trace to Southern Special, GT 58, WL 318 and ND 85 Brand. The approximate percentage of germplasm sources are: M. falcata ~1, Ladak (1, H. varia 3, Turkistan 3, Flemish 9, Unknown 82. Further estimates were not possible with the information on hand.
2. R~~al as tested in the southern Sacramento Valley and San JoaQuin Valley, California where it is adapted. It is intended for use in these and similar areas.
3. The flowers of Royal are over 99% purple with a trace of ..ariegation, cream and white in the syn 1 generation. The fall dormancy is similar to Mesilla.
4. Royal has high resistance to Fusarium wilt and Spotted alfalfa aphid and resistance to Phytophthora root rot. It has moderate resistance to Bazteral wilt and low resistance to anthracnose (Race 1) and ~ea aphid. Its reaction to Verticili;um wilt, stem nematode, blue alfalfa aphid, Aphanomyces root rot (Race 1), and root knot nematode is not known.
5. Breeder seed (syn 1) will be used to produce the first ger.erat~Zn foundation seed Car ). The breeder will determine the increase of syn to syn 3 foundation seed. Certified seed (syn 3 or 4) wi" ~e produced from foundaticn seed. Sufficient breeder and or :~ndation seed will be maintained by I.K. Seed Resear:-, no. for the life of the variety. Stand limitation for :-eeder, foundation and oertif;ed seed production is i. .a and 6 years respectively.
6. Certified seed will be offered ~ sale in 1994.
7. The decision for application for Plant Variety Protection (PVP) has not been determined.
8. This information may be forwarded to the PVP office.