Dr Phillip Nichols1, Mr Brad Wintle1, Mr Derek Mason2, Mr David Harbison3, Dr Angus Heslop4, Mr Eric Hall5, Mr Steven Clark6, Prof. Megan Ryan1, Professor William Erskine1, Mr Martin Harmer2, Mr Blair McCormick2, Dr Alan Stewart7, Dr Derek Woodfield8
1University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia, 2DLF Seeds, Truganina, Australia, 3D R Agriculture, Molong, Australia, 4AgResearch, Lincoln, New Zealand, 5Retired, Launceston, Australia, 6Retired, Hamilton, Australia, 7PGG Wrightson Seeds, Lincoln, New Zealand, 8PGG Wrightson Seeds, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Biography:
Phil Nichols has 40 years’ experience with the breeding, genetics and agronomy of pasture legumes. He graduated from the University of Adelaide and gained a PhD from the University of Western Australia (UWA). Phil worked for the NSW Department of Primary Industries for two years and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA for 33 years, before transferring to UWA in 2019 as part of the Annual Legume Breeding Australia (ALBA) Joint Venture with DLF Seeds. Phil has bred 24 pasture legume cultivars of subterranean clover, lucerne, messina, balansa clover and Persian clover.
Abstract:
Traditional breeding methods for the inbreeding species, subterranean (sub) clover, have involved pedigree selection, in which seeds of selected plants are re-sown for selection in the following generation until homozygosity in the F6 or F7 generation. While this method is suitable for highly heritable traits, it does not incorporate the important self-regeneration process that enables persistence in subsequent years. Consequently, a new breeding method was implemented whereby segregating F4 populations were sown in target environments across southern Australia and managed as self-regenerating grazed swards for three years under standard district practices. Seeds were then harvested from the best plots for further selection in Perth, Western Australia (WA) as homozygous breeding lines. The most promising lines were then evaluated over three years in multi-site trials. Three new sub clover cultivars have been developed using this method. Edison and Carver are late flowering ssp. subterraneum cultivars derived from segregating plots at Hamilton, Victoria and Launceston, Tasmania, respectively. Both produced significantly more biomass over three years than all other ssp. subterraneum cultivars at Manjimup and Vasse (WA), Ballarat (Victoria), Blayney (New South Wales) and Lincoln, New Zealand. Franklin is a midseason ssp. yanninicum cultivar derived from a segregating plot at Wokalup (WA) and produced significantly more biomass over three years than all other ssp. yanninicum cultivars at Manjimup, Vasse, Ballarat and Blayney. These results show how incorporation of the regeneration process in target environments and appropriate management during the segregating generations can lead to selection of highly productive and resilient annual pasture legumes.