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white clover, cultivar "irrigation"




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From:           Self <HAMMY/REEDK>
To:             forage-mg@oes.orst.edu
Subject:        white clover, cultivar "irrigation"
Date sent:      Thu, 23 Mar 1995 15:10:27

Further to the enquiry of 22.3.1995:-
Irrigation is an inappropriate name; this very old cultivar is the 
only Australian derived cultivar.  Other cultivars used in Australia 
have been developed from Israeli material (Haifa, Tamar) or are 
imported ones, mainly bred in New Zealand.  
We use "Irrigation" widely in Victoria, 
especially in the Northern Irrigation region [dairying/prime lambs] - 
a region of very HOT, DRY summer.  It is valued for its yield and 
persistence.  It has some tolerance to moderate salinity.  Commercial 
seed is available.  We can supply small research quantities.  

Agriculture Victoria conduct a National white clover breeding project
based largely on an ecotype collection made in 1989 in the 
Northern region (from which Irrigation was originally selected in 
1936), and from a Tamar x Irrigation cross made to further increase 
winter yield.  In a parallel project, Agric. Vic. biotechnologists 
have made considerable progress in putting coat protein gene in to 
confer Alfalfa Mosaic virus resistance. 

In a separate project Agriculture Vic. collaborate with NZ AgResearch 
in breeding white clover for the dry marginal environment.  We are 
currently seeking commercial partners for two new cultivars arising 
from this project, developed separately for both sheep and cattle 
grazing. 

Further reading:  
Proc. 1st Aust. Soc. Agron. Conf., 1980, 238
Proc. 6th Aust. Soc. Agron. Conf., 1992, 288
Euphytica 72: 219
Aust. J Exp Agric 33: 333
Proc. 17th Int. Grassld. Congr., 1: 413

Kevin Reed, 
Pastoral & Veterinary Inst., AgVic., Hamilton, Vic., 
Australia.