French serradella

Page last updated: Tuesday, 19 October 2021 - 12:22pm

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Seed characteristics

Individual seeds are 1.5mm long and coloured brown in Cadiz and Eliza and yellow to cream for Erica and Margurita.

Cadiz and Eliza seed is generally fully soft-seeded at plant senescence. This means that newly ripened seed is ready to germinate and does not require removal from the pod or scarification. However Cadiz seeds are prone to losses following germination from false breaks. It also means that Cadiz will not persist for more than one season without seed production. Therefore re-sowing is required after cropping or after seasons with poor seed production.

Erica and Margurita are hard seeded cultivars. Newly ripened seeds generally have high levels of hard seed and require dehulling and seed scarification to enhance germination prior to sowing for dense pasture establishment. Unprocessed pod of these cultivars could be sown in the preceding year or over summer to utilise natural hard seed breakdown. However, more research and experience is required to develop and evaluate this technique.

Pod and seed of Margurita hardseed French serradella
Pod and seed of Margurita hard seed French serradella

Adaptation

Cadiz, Erica and Margurita are suited to regions with 325-500mm annual rainfall. Eliza is suited to regions with 250-400mm annual rainfall. French serradella is a very acid-tolerant species and is generally adapted to a range of soil textures provided pHCa is below 7.5.

Iron deficiency restricts growth at higher pH causing the leaves to develop a distinctive yellow appearance. On very poor coarse-textured soils potassium deficiency can develop particularly in the earlier stages of growth. This shows as yellowed or burnt leaf margins on the older leaves and the leaflets easily detach from the petioles with slight disturbance. French serradella can tolerate short periods of waterlogging but not inundation.

Productivity

Spring herbage yields of French serradella in Western Australia can be as high as 10t/ha and compare well with those of yellow serradella, biserrula and subterranean clover. French serradella produces high quality forage in terms of crude protein (19-25%) and dry matter digestibility (70-80%), which equates to metabolisable energy of 10-12MJ/kg DM.

It is suitable for hay or silage production, either alone or in mixtures with oats or ryegrass. Care needs to be taken when turning and baling French serradella hay to avoid leaf drop. This is best done during early morning, early evening or under humid conditions.

French serradella has a deep root system (over 2m in sandy soils) and can access deeper moisture and nutrients than the shallower-rooted annual clovers and medics. In deep coarse-textured soils this can result in an extra 2-6 weeks of green feed in late spring or early summer compared to these species.

French serradella is a prolific seed producer with yields ranging from 500-1000kg/ha of clean pod. The actual seed content of pod is usually 50-55% in Cadiz and Eliza and 60-65% in Erica and Margurita.

Contact information

+61 (0)8 9368 3907