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SARDI - "Angel"
Angel to the rescue for legume growers
Help from above is providing growers with a new way to decrease crop losses.
South Australia's Hart Field Day had a distinctively heavenly overtone last year. At the well-known agricultural event, which is highly valued for its contribution to the development of rural industry, Angel was officially unveiled. The Angel cultivar is a world first in pasture legumes and is resistant to sulfonylurea (SU) herbicide soil residues that can hamper crop growth.
"Angel will enable farmers to continue to use SU herbicides in their normal winter cropping program while still retaining the benefits of productive and persistent legume pastures," says Jake Howie, the SARDI Pastures Group developer that is working with the variety. "Angel will also allow growers to use certain SU herbicides in summer weed control programs, significantly decreasing crop production loss."
With an excellent track record of commercial success, the SARDI Pastures Group partly relies on royalties received through the sale of newly developed varieties to fund ongoing breeding. The success of Angel has been the result of a collaborative effort between SARDI and the University of Adelaide, with invaluable assistance from growers' funds.
Climate challenge
Howie has worked with SARDI for 24 years, contributing to the development of more than 10 medic cultivars, most of which have Plant Breeder's Rights (PBR) protection. PBR safeguards enable SARDI to grant exclusive licences to selected seed companies to grow, market and sell SARDI varieties.
It has become apparent that Angel, despite some early hurdles, is worth protecting. Originally targeted for general release last year, the severity of the 2006 drought severely hampered Angel seed production in all areas in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. Although 2007 was also a difficult year, another large-scale seed production effort should result in up to 40 tonnes being made available for farmers. With this boost in production, the return on years of hard work is not too far off for the SARDI team.
"Angel has a bright future," Howie says. "This year will be its first commercial year and we are quietly confident that demand for it will exceed production."
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