Serradella - Part B Serradella varieties and suitability

Variety suitability

More than eleven commercial serradella varieties have been released over the   past two decades. Characteristics of the current main varieties are listed in   the table below. Areas where each variety is recommended are indicated on the map.

The recommendations include:

• early maturing varieties for the western plains
• a mixture of early and early to mid-maturing varieties for the western slopes
• a mixture of early, early to mid- and mid-season types for the central slopes
• a mixture of later maturing, mid-season and early maturing varieties for the inner slopes
• a mixture of late season, mid season and early maturing types for the tablelands
• a combination of mid-season and later maturing varieties for coastal areas
• a slender serradella such as Jebala should be added to the mixture if soils are prone to waterlogging.
• commonly other species are included with serradella to cater for soil type variability, management differences, and seasonal variability. For example biserrula could be added to a pasture mix in deep sandy and acid soils. Sub clover may be worth including where some areas of the paddock are loamy and less acid. If seasons are very wet Persian clover, balansa clover and arrowleaf clover may be more suited to waterlogged prone areas.

Choose serradella varieties not only for their maturity, but also for features such as tolerance to acidic soils. For example, in light soil areas with extreme soil acidity, choose only the highly aluminium tolerant varieties.

It is generally a good idea to sow a mixture of two or more varieties. Variety diversity increases insurance against seasonal and soil variability.

Characteristics of serradella cultivars

Some important varieties

Yellow serradella

Avila yellow serradella—a high quality pasture legume—in trials on the northern tablelands. Other cultivars that outperform the original variety Pitman have been released throughout Australia. Note the erect, spreading growth habit   and the prolific development of flower pods.

Charano

Charano was collected from the Greek island of Mykonos.

It is early maturing, flowering about six days before Madeira in central   NSW.

Hard seed levels are high and their breakdown can be slow. While this is an excellent feature for long-term persistence, regeneration can be poorer than from varieties like King during the first few years.

Charano has an upright growth habit when ungrazed, and harvestability is much better than for varieties like Madeira or Elgara.

Like Santorini, and to a degree like King, pod retention following senescence is high, helping to achieve higher seed yields. Charano has moderate tolerance to low soil pH and aluminium toxicity.

King

A new variety released in 2000. King is a quick maturing yellow serradella variety (only one to two days later than Charano) and has performed extremely well across the central west slopes and inner plains district. In a series of   trials, over five years, from Trangie, Warren, Dubbo, Binnaway, Coonabarabran and Baradine, it rated highest for annual seedling regeneration and performed well for productivity.

While hard seed content is high, unlike some varieties, dormancy is broken and germination usually increases by autumn to ensure better pasture density in the early years of the pasture. This is particularly valuable in pasture phases   of only three to four years duration.

King has adequate tolerance to soil acidity and associated aluminium toxicity for the majority of soil situations likely to occur throughout the areas it is recommended to be grown in. It will be a valuable inclusion in most serradella   sowings. Seed yields are better than for Elgara and Madeira, but inferior to Santorini and Charano. Tolerance to red legged earth mites is high, similar to Santorini.

Santorini

Santorini is an early to mid maturing variety and on average is about three days faster to flower than Madeira in central NSW. The variety was collected in 1987 from the Greek island of Santorini.

A major advantage of Santorini over the older early-mid maturing varieties like Madeira and Elgara is a far superior pod retention after senescence, increasing the opportunity for good seed yields from direct harvesting.

Santorini has better tolerance to red legged earthmites (and also probably blue oat mites) than Madeira or Elgara. Like Charano, Santorini is better suited to dehulling than any other variety of yellow serradella.

Santorini has performed well across NSW slopes and plains but in trials   across central and northern slopes King has shown far superior regeneration (during the first four years at least).

Madeira

Madeira is a yellow serradella with early-mid maturity. It is more erect and a lighter green, especially in the early growth stage, than Avila. Madeira has performed well in the medium to lower rainfall areas, including Western Division   districts. Madeira generally begins flowering in early August (up to 20–30   days earlier than Avila in central NSW) and sets seed in dry spring conditions.

Madeira’s seedling vigour and winter productivity are excellent. It is mainly suited to the lighter soils with less soil acidity. It has a relatively low tolerance to soil aluminium toxicity.

Elgara

Elgara is an early-mid season yellow serradella with superior seedling vigour and good winter productivity. Elgara is suited to the central and western slopes.

Its growth is more upright than Avila’s. If allowed to become tall and rank, Elgara can be damaged by overgrazing. Elgara flowers about 15–25 days earlier than Avila in central NSW. It has a distinct bluish appearance compared with the   light green of most other serradella varieties. Seed may be difficult to obtain.

Elgara has less tolerance than varieties such as Santorini to extreme soil aluminium toxicity (generally associated with very acidic soils).

Avila

Avila was released in 1989 and is superior to Pitman. It is a mid-late season variety. Avila is suited to most coastal, tableland and medium to higher rainfall slopes areas. Compared with Pitman, Avila has superior seedling vigour, tolerates extreme soil acidity, and has better winter and spring productivity. Avila is a semi-prostrate variety. If allowed to reach an advanced stage before stocking, Avila can become very upright and be damaged following hard grazing. Its maturity is similar to that of Pitman.

Slender serradella

Jebala

Jebala is a mid-season slender serradella flowering about 10 days earlier than Avila in central NSW. It was released in 1988. Jebala, like most slender serradellas, is particularly suited to lighter soils and those that are prone to   waterlogging. Jebala has done better than its maturity would suggest in medium rainfall western areas such as Narrabri.

It grows more slowly than yellow serradella varieties in the early stages.  Its spring growth is often exceptional.

The seed is extremely small and great care must be taken with sowing depth. Jebala shows average tolerance to soil aluminium toxicity.

Pink serradella

Cadiz

Cadiz is an early-mid maturing pink serradella. It has very few or no hard seeds. Persistance is often poor after 2–3 years.

Cadiz is extremely vigorous and productive, and is sometimes used in mixtures to boost pasture production in the first one to three years. However, it is important to ensure the early dominance of Cadiz does not adversely affect the   seed yield of other varieties sown for long-term persistence.

Cadiz has good tolerance to soil acidity and associated aluminium toxicity.  Hard seeded Cadiz types are likely to be released from 2002 onwards.

Proceed to Part C - Establishing serradella.