Centre for Legumes in
Mediterranean Agriculture

Pasture Cultivars

Pasture cultivars have been commercialised by CLIMA with support from the National Annual Pasture Legume Improvement Program (NAPLIP), RIRDC, Australian Wool Innovation Limited and GRDC. Other varieties are in advanced stages of evaluation.

AGWEST Sothis - Eastern Star Clover

Electra Purple Clover

Flamenco Sulla

Cadiz serradella

Cadiz serradella (Ornithopus sativus) is the first variety of French serradella to be developed in Australia. It was collected by Denis Gillespie in South Africa and was released to farmers in 1996. Cadiz has medium maturity with a variable date to flower: 80 days in Geraldton, 105 days in Perth and 140 days in Manjimup.

Farmers have reported that production from infertile, deep sandy soils has more than doubled as a result of increased pasture quality and an extended supply of green feed due to the deep rooting ability of Cadiz.

The strengths of Cadiz include an ability to grow well on infertile sandy and often acidic soils and an adaptation to a wide range of rainfall conditions (350 to 700 mm annual rainfall).

Cadiz continues to flower and set pods over an extended period, allowing it to exploit good seasonal conditions when spring rainfall is extended.

It has the potential for high seed production and can be harvested with cereal harvesting equipment. The resultant pods require no further processing other than cleaning to remove weed seeds, ensuring low cost seed that can then be sown at high density.

Harvest yields usually range from 400 to 700 kilograms of pod per hectare with at least one report of 1400 kilograms per hectare.

Cadiz has achieved rapid farmer acceptance because of its low seed cost and because it can be used in a number of farming system roles and across rainfall zones.

See Department of Agriculture Farmnote 12/97

Charano yellow serradella

Charano yellow serradella (Ornithopus compressus) was collected in 1987 from the Greek island of Mykonos by Dr John Howieson and Dr Mike Ewing. It was found on acidic sandy loam soils with a climate similar to that of the Western Australian wheatbelt.

Its agronomic performance is similar to or slightly better than existing cultivars, and its main advantage is suitability for commercial seed production. Charano is very hard seeded and complete hard seed breakdown may take five to six years.

Charano is an early maturing variety similar to Paros but it is more upright than Paros when ungrazed, making it much more suitable for header harvesting, particularly in medium and high rainfall areas. It is also more tolerant than Paros to high levels of aluminium in the root zone, often associated with very acidic subsoil.

Charano is better suited to the dehulling process than any older cultivar of yellow serradella. When the pods are passed through a dehuller they tend to break at a position past the segment wall which exposes, and often releases, the seed.

See Department of Agriculture Farmnote 29/98

Cefalu arrowleaf clover

Cefalu arrowleaf clover (Trifolium vesiculosum) is a deep-rooted, long season annual cultivar which remains green long after traditional annual pastures have senesced. While it is suited to a wide range of soil types, it performs best on well-drained, neutral or acid soil, and sandy soils that have a perched water table. Arrowleaf clover can extend its roots beyond 1.5 m on a freely drained, deep gravel soil. It is sensitive to waterlogging and even moderate waterlogging can restrict production.

The existing cultivar Seelu grows best in areas with more than 600 mm rainfall or where the water table is 0.5 to 1.5 m below the surface. Cefalu is earlier flowering than Seelu, with better early season production and better herbage and seed yield. It can be grown reliably in areas with more than 500 mm rainfall.

Arrowleaf clover seed is easy to harvest with conventional cereal headers. Sowing rates between 5 and 10 kg/ha provide a highly productive pasture by early spring in the year of establishment.

CLIMA scientists were instrumental in identifying the need for a special rhizobial strain for arrowleaf clover and subsequently making it available to farmers.

Caprera crimson clover

Caprera crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) is a deep rooted, long season annual species highly suited to winter grazing and subsequent silage/hay production. It is adapted to a wide range of soil types and performs well on soils suited to subterranean clover. It has moderate tolerance of transient waterlogging but performs best on well-drained soils. The species has some susceptibility to clover scorch.

Caprera grows best in areas with more than 500 mm rainfall. It is very soft seeded so long-term persistence may be a problem. The use of crimson clover in a mixture with subterranean clover to provide high legume dominance after several years of continuous cropping (e.g. wheat, lupins, canola, wheat) is likely to be a major role for Caprera.

See Department of Agriculture Farmnote 31/98

Casbah and Mauro Biserrula

Biserrula (Biserrula pelecinus) is the newest annual legume species to be commercialised in Australia and Casbah was the first cultivar of this species in the world. It can be used in mixtures with serradella on sandy soils and on the better class of soils where subterranean clover is grown. Early indications are that biserrula will also perform well in a mixture with medics, particularly on the sandier medic soils. Care should be taken with inoculation for sowing on white sandy soils as poor nodulation has been observed in several instances. Biserrula will not tolerate waterlogging.

Casbah is a mid-season cultivar suited to regions with 325-500mm annual rainfall. Winter shoot growth is often slow but it appears to concentrate its efforts on root production. It is deep rooted and has the capacity to remain green long after other pasture species have dried off. It is very hard seeded, has small seeds which can survive ingestion by sheep and seed is easier to thresh from the pod than serradella. Casbah is sensitive to blue-green aphids and should be sprayed, especially in the year of establishment.

Mauro is a mid- to late-maturing cultivar suited to regions with 450-700mm annual rainfall. Mauro has a lower level of hard seededness than Casbah and is better suited to areas with permanent pasture or less intensive cropping systems.

In recent years a number of outbreaks of photosensitisation have been occurred in sheep grazing Casbah biserrula pastures, although the overall incidence was low.  In WA, most reported cases have occurred between August and October when spring pasture is growing rapidly.  DAFWA is investigating the connection between biserrula and photosensitivity.  It is unclear whether Mauro predisposes sheep to photosensitivity.  Management is discussed in the farmnote below.  

See Department of Agriculture Media Release, Farmnote 37/2005 and FAO.

casbah.pdf