THE protracted dry season conditions will be a key test this summer for the development of tedera – a robust perennial pasture legume that is being adapted for Australian release.
The Agriculture and Food Department WA is trialling the pasture as part of a current research project with the Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Department pasture researcher Daniel Real said trials at Mount Barker and Buntine and Newdegate in particular, had demonstrated tedera was standing up to the tough conditions.
“In early October at the Newdegate site, which had received 211 millimetres of rainfall for 2010, the tedera plants were green and flourishing,” Dr Real said.
“At Buntine, which had only received 180mm of rainfall compared with the average of 350mm, the plants are still leafy and active. The stand at Mount Barker is also growing well on better seasonal rainfall.”
Two subspecies of tedera, which comes from the Canary Islands, are being tested in WA, from which Dr Real plans to breed a variety suited to local conditions.
After four years of promising field trials, next autumn Dr Real will select about 20 plants out of 10,000 with desirable characteristics to use as parent plants in the breeding program.
“The long summer will provide a good environment to identify plants that are drought tolerant, have good production over summer and autumn, good leaf retention and seed production, as well as lines that are resistant to pests and diseases,” he said.
Dr Real said he was very happy with the performance of tedera in WA.
“The plants have done well getting through the dry winter and show great promise as a valuable summer and autumn stock feed that could significantly reduce the cost of supplementary feed and help boost farm incomes,” he said.
Complementary animal health trials at the department’s South Perth animal house facilities have shown no adverse effects in sheep from long term feeding on tedera and no indication of meat taint.
“The sheep ate tedera as a sole diet for 42 days. The last 10 days of the trial were in metabolic crates that allowed us to measure an in vivo digestibility of 60 per cent for tedera, the same as very good quality lucerne chaff used to feed the control animals,” Dr Real said.
These trials will continue, while an economic analysis of the cost-benefit of tedera is also being undertaken.
With breeding set to commence next year, the first line of the new tedera variety is expected to be ready for seed increase in 2015.
