Abstract
Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.A research program to develop sterile leucaena has commenced to enhance red-meat production in additional regions of Australia including Western Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales, where growing seeded leucaena is not currently permitted or encouraged. In this study we report on the development of methodology using a mutagenizing agent, EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate), to cause mutations in the self-fertile commercial leucaena cultivar, Redlands. Several experiments to determine the optimum rate of EMS have been completed and first generation mutagenized plants (M0) established in the field at Redlands Research Station, Cleveland, Queensland, Australia. An EMS concentration of 0.35% applied to germination paper proved the best method to achieve a target emergence percentage of 50%. To date, 27 of 179 mutagenized M0 seedless plants are considered to be putatively sterile. A further 1,200 M0 plants have been established in the field providing an even greater chance of identifying sterile leucaena plants with the desired forage quality and psyllid-resistance attributes.
Highlights
In Northern Australia, leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala ssp. glabrata) is planted in single or double hedgerows several meters apart with a perennial C4 grass planted in the inter-row, and occasionally with a C3 grass in the winter months
This legume-grass pasture system is highly productive for grazing cattle in the >600 mm rainfall zone, with producers reporting greater liveweight gains and profitability compared with other tropical pastures
In some regions of Australia leucaena is considered a serious weed, primarily because of the seediness of commercial cultivars, and because of the wide historic distribution of the noncommercial weedy type L. leucocephala ssp. leucocephala (Shelton et al 2003; Walton 2003). This weedy noncommercial subspecies has been present in Australia since the late 1800s and pre-dated agricultural production with subspecies glabrata (White 1937)
Summary
In Northern Australia, leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala ssp. glabrata) is planted in single or double hedgerows several meters apart with a perennial C4 grass planted in the inter-row, and occasionally with a C3 grass in the winter months. Glabrata) is planted in single or double hedgerows several meters apart with a perennial C4 grass planted in the inter-row, and occasionally with a C3 grass in the winter months This legume-grass pasture system is highly productive for grazing cattle in the >600 mm rainfall zone, with producers reporting greater liveweight gains and profitability compared with other tropical pastures In some regions of Australia leucaena is considered a serious weed, primarily because of the seediness of commercial cultivars, and because of the wide historic distribution of the noncommercial weedy type L. leucocephala ssp. There is a need to develop seedless (sterile) cultivars in order for these regions to share the benefits of leucaena-grass pasture systems
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