
An Improved Forage Grass for
CowsBy Linda
Cooke September 12, 1997Birdsfoot trefoil could be a big hit with farmers and livestock
alike. Unlike alfalfa, this forage puts up with less-than-perfect soils. Also,
it tolerates heavy grazing, its nutritious and cattle apparently find it
tasty. The bad news: Birdsfoot trefoil is highly susceptible to root
diseases. Now scientists with USDAs
Agricultural Research Servicehave developed the first commercial variety of birdsfoot trefoil that resists
root diseases. ARS and the University of Missouri released the new variety, called
Steadfast, in 1995. The secret behind Steadfasts sturdiness is a wild birdsfoot
trefoil found by ARS scientists in Morocco in the late 1980s. Steadfast has
borrowed an important trait from the Moroccan trefoil: the ability to produce
rhizomes, runners that enable the plant to spread to new sites. Rhizomes grow
below the soil and can root to make new plants. Even if parts of the original
mother plant succumb to disease, new plantlets that develop from rhizomes allow
the plant to live and spread. This new tool for survival should help the yellow-flowered
Steadfast win fans in the U.S. farming community, which has been wary of
birdsfoot trefoil in the past because of its disease susceptibility. Another
plus for the new variety: It wont cause bloating, the formation of excess
gas in the grazing animals stomach. The September issue of Agricultural Research magazine
contains a story about the development of Steadfast from its Moroccan parentage
to its distribution in the United States. The story can be viewed on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep97/trefoil0997.htm Scientific contact: Paul R. Beuselinck, ARS
Plant
Genetics Research Unit, University of Missouri, 207 Waters Hall, Columbia,
MO 65211, phone (573) 882-6406,
[email protected]. Story contacts Plant Genetics Research U.S. Department of Agriculture | |