It is no coincidence that the first two annual pasture legumes developed by Annual Legume Breeding Australia (ALBA) researchers at The University of Western Australia share their names with legendary scientists.

The new varieties Edison and Franklin were officially launched last month by WA Agriculture Minister the Hon Jackie Jarvis MLC at the UWA Shenton Park Field Station 2024 Open Day.

Image: Associate Professor Phillip Nichols, Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis, and Bradley Wintle with the new varieties.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Phillip Nichols said the new varieties were named in honour of inventor and scientist Thomas Edison and ‘Mother of DNA’ Rosalind Franklin.

“It is very exciting to see Edison and Franklin come to commercial reality,” Associate Professor Nichols said.

“I was confident they had outstanding ability, and the ALBA program has enabled us to test them in the field and bring them to commerce.

“We are also excited at the pipeline of new material coming through the program, with several new releases likely over the next few years.”

Image: Minister Jarvis launching the varieties Edison and Franklin.

ALBA is a joint venture between UWA and the world’s largest forage breeding company DLF Seeds, which aims to breed more productive and persistent annual pasture legumes for farmers of southern Australia and international markets.

It formed in 2018 following transfer of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) annual pasture legume breeding program to private industry.

Associate Professor Nichols and Senior Research Officer Bradley Wintle transferred from DPIRD to UWA and have run the breeding program with ALBA ever since.

“Our main focus is on subterranean (sub) clover, which is the key annual pasture legume across southern Australia,” Associate Professor Nichols said.

“Annual pasture legumes are important because they are a source of high-quality feed and can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and put it back into the soil for use by other plants in the pasture – improving overall pasture productivity.”

Associate Professor Nichols

 

Edison and Franklin varieties have very low levels of the phyto-oestrogens that can cause sheep infertility and are resistant to important leaf diseases.

Certified seed of both varieties will be available to farmers in 2025.

Edison is a late flowering sub clover suited to permanent or semi-permanent pastures on well-drained soils in high rainfall areas with long growing seasons.

It combines persistence under heavy grazing, disease resistance and rapid growth from its parent varieties, Denmark and Woogenellup.

Franklin is a midseason flowering sub clover belonging to the waterlogging-tolerant yanninicum subspecies and is best suited to medium-high rainfall areas in soils prone to winter waterlogging.

ALBA is currently evaluating sub clovers bred for medium and low rainfall areas, and new balansa, Persian and arrowleaf clover varieties are also imminent.