Cicer milkvetch improved
Cattle producers relying on pasture for feed can look forward to improved cicer milkvetch for the legume component of their pasture mix. Cicer milkvetch is a high quality forage that is well adapted to Western Canada. In pasture, it has several advantages when compared with alfalfa, the “queen of forages.”
Cicer milkvetch:
- Does not cause bloat in cattle when grazed.
- Is long-lived.
- Increases in a pasture mixture rather than diminishes.
- Has few diseases.
- Is rarely damaged by insects.
- Is not liked by pocket gophers as much as alfalfa.
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Why is cicer milkvetch not used in all western pastures? The major reason is difficulty in getting it established.
Cicer milkvetch seeds have a high level of dormancy, caused mainly by a hard, impermeable coat. Hard seeds pose a major problem when quick and uniform stand establishment is the goal. Cicer seeds fail to soak up water under favorable conditions and germination occurs over an extended period. Seedlings which emerge months after planting seldom contribute significantly to the stand due to competition from older and established plants.
Coats must be cracked
In order to get a uniform stand of cicer milkvetch, seed must be scarified. Scarification is a mechanical process that cracks hard seed coats. Once the seed coat is cracked, the seed can take in water and germination begins.
The second hurdle is the slowness of seedling establishment. After cicer milkvetch seeds germinate, the seedlings grow slower than most forages. Oxley, the only registered Canadian cultivar, has extremely poor growth at its seedling stage as well as after cutting. Unless care is taken at the establishment stage it may take three years before you can see the cicer milkvetch in a mixed forage stand.
The Lethbridge Research Centre is focusing on improving establishment of this important forage crop. Through four cycles of selection for improved seedling vigor, it has produced genetically superior populations that can emerge faster, grow rapidly during the seedling stage and produce a greater amount of biomass than the check cultivar, Oxley.
Some of these superior populations yield almost 200 percent of Oxley in the first production year. Seed of selected populations is being increased so the lines can be tested at several locations. Data generated from the multi-location trials are used for registration of new forage cultivars in Canada.
– Agriculture Canada
