Stocktake and analysis of legume evaluation for tropical pastures in Australia

Abstract

There has been a large effort dedicated to the evaluation of a wide variety of sub-tropical and tropical pasture legumes in the past. This large body of information is very valuable for guiding any future legume development activities, yet much of this information was at risk of being lost. This project aimed to collate and store this tropical legume evaluation data and use this and knowledge from past researchers to recommend priority R&D approaches and activities for future pasture legume development. Together with retired pasture researchers, legume evaluation datasets were identified, prioritised, and collated into a database which captured over 180 000 data records collected from 567 sites across northern Australia. Using this large integrated dataset, high power statistical approaches were used to identify legume species which performed well across this large range of evaluation sites. Several species and genera were identified which warrant further investigation and further in-depth analysis of the database in species or genera of interest would be valuable. A gap analysis of commercially proven, underused and prospective legumes was conducted across the key production regions of northern Australia. A range of material was identified which could offer potential improvements in seed production, cold, drought or grazing tolerance compared to the current released varieties.