Breeding Alfalfa for Combined
Wildlife Habitat and Forage Purposes
Arvid Boe, Robin Bortnem,
Kevin Kephart, and Susan Selman
Plant Science Department
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD 57007
There is expanding interest
in the northern Great Plains in the use
of alfalfa for both wildlife habitat and
forage purposes. Pheasants and ducks utilize
alfalfa fields as nesting sites in spring
and early summer in our region. However,
haying procedures in early June often
destroy nests, eggs, and incubating hens
(McCabe et al. 1956). Yellow-flowered
alfalfa (Medicago sativa ssp.
falcata) has several traits that
lead us to believe it offers promise for
this purpose. It has high levels of
winterhardiness and drought tolerance,
prolonged flowering, and more tolerance
than common hay and pasture types to potato
leafhopper yellowing (Boe et al. 1994,
Bortnem et al. 1993, 1994).
The objectives of our
research are: (1) compare yellow-flowered
germplasms to standard hay- and pasture-type
alfalfas for yield and quality in a system
where forage is stockpiled until late
July to enhance gamebird production, and
(2) develop a new cultivar with the
morphological and forage quality characteristics
that make it especially suitable for
combined nesting cover and stockpiled
forage purposes.
Forage yield and quality
and insect resistance data for
yellow-flowered alfalfa germplasms
compared to standard hay- and pasture-type
cultivars were collected from replicated
seeded and spaced-plant trials during
1992-1994 at 3 locations in eastern
South Dakota.
Forage production of
alfalfa stockpiled until mid or late
July was highest for entries that had
yellow-flowered alfalfa as their sole
or primary source of parental genotypes.
However, our preliminary data suggest
that germplasms with high levels of
yellow-flowered alfalfa in their
pedigrees were of poorer quality than
many standard hay or pasture types
under this delayed first-harvest system
when potato leafhopper infestations were
not severe. We feel that if alfalfa
is intended to be stockpiled until mid
July that tolerance to potato leafhopper
yellowing is crucial. Timing and level
of potato leafhopper infestation are
difficult to predict, but if the
insects arrive early in the growing
season they can cause significant reductions
in yield and quality of susceptible
cultivars if the forage is stockpiled until mid July.
In the northern Great Plains, it is common
to obtain only one harvest of alfalfa
in a growing season. Germplasms with
high levels of yellow-flowered alfalfa
in their parentage appear promising for
1-cut systems that will provide nesting
habitat for gamebirds in the spring and
abundant forage after young gamebirds have
fledged. Since forage yields of
yellow-flowered germplasms exceeded
those of standard and hay- and pasture-type
cultivars in this delayed-harvest system
(Boe et al. 1994), future work will focus
on selecting for improved quality in
yellow-flowered alfalfa. We have selected
about 30 genotypes from yellow-flowered
accessions from the former Soviet Union
for tolerance to potato leafhopper yellowing,
prolonged flowering, vigor, and leaf
retention. Seed of this selected germplasm
was increased under isolation in
Washington in 1993 and 1994.
Hopefully, data obtained from trials
established in 1994 and 1995 in South
and North Dakota will provide support
for the release of a new yellow-flowered
cultivar for combined wildlife habitat
and forage purposes in the late 1990's.
References
- Boe, A., R. Bortnem,
and A. Kruse. 1994. Forage yield of
stockpiled yellow-flowered and hay-type
alfalfas. p. 132 In Report of the
Thirty-fourth North American Alfalfa
Improvement Conference, July 10-14, Guelph, Ontario.
- Bortnem, R., A. Boe, and A. Kruse.
1994. Forage Quality of stockpiled
yellow-flowered and hay-type alfalfas.
p. 131 In Report of the Thirty-fourth
North American Alfalfa Improvement
Conference, July 10-14, Guelph, Ontario.
- Bortnem, R., A. Boe, K. Higgins,
and A. Kruse. 1993. Evaluation of
alfalfa germplasms for combined wildlife
habitat and forage purposes. pg. 29 In
Proceedings Twenty-third Central Alfalfa
Improvement Conference, June 20-22, University of Nebraska, Omaha.
- McCabe, R.A., R.A. MacMullan, and
E.H. Dustman. 1956. Ringneck pheasants
in the Great Lakes region. pg. 264-356
In D.L. Allen, ed. Pheasants in North
America. Stackpole Co., Harrisburg,
PA and Wildlife Manage. Inst., Washington, DC.
1995 Central Alfalfa Improvement Conference Proceedings
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