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REGISTRATIONS OF CULTIVARS

Registration of ‘Armadillo’ Burr Medic

^a Texas A&M Univ. Agr. Res. Stn., Beeville, TX 78102
^b Soil and Crop Sci. Dep., TAMU, College Station
^c Texas A&M Univ. Agr. Res. Stn. Beeville
^d Texas Agr. Exp. Stn., Dallas
^e Texas Coop. Ext., College Station
^f Texas Agr. Exp. Stn. Vernon
^g Texas Agr. Exp. Stn., Overton
^h Sam Houston State Univ., Huntsville, TX
ⁱ LSU-Rosepine, LA
^j Texas Agr. Exp. Stn., Stephenville
^k USDA-ARS, Brooksville, FL

^* Corresponding author (w-ocumpaugh{at}tamu.edu)

‘Armadillo’ (Reg. no. CV-218, PI 612354) burr medic (Medicago polymorpha L.) was developed by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and released in 1998. Armadillo originated from a naturalized stand in pasture 18 on the Texas A&M Univ. Agricultural Research Station near Beeville, TX. Armadillo is the result of two cycles of rogueing of inferior plants. Armadillo was tested under the designation of BEPAS-18.

Burr medic is a winter annual legume native to the Mediterranean region. Burr medic was introduced into Texas more than 100 yr ago and became naturalized. A burr medic cultivar was released in Texas in the 1950s (Anonymous, 1956), but seed is no longer available. With the exception of the lack of freeze tolerance, and inadequate hard seededness, many commercial annual medics from Australia are well adapted to the calcareous soils of the region (Ocumpaugh et al., 1997). Armadillo burr medic is intended to provide a winter annual legume that will persist and spread in pastures in the central region of Texas from about Interstate Hwy. I-20 southward. Armadillo will reseed even under grazing and provide much, if not all, of the nitrogen for the associated perennial warm-season grasses (Ocumpaugh, 1990).

In 1996, BEPAS-18 was evaluated at TAES at Beeville, Yoakum, Stephenville, Dallas, Vernon, Overton, College Station; Sam Houston State University farm near Huntsville, TX; USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory near El Reno, OK; and the LSU Research Station at Rosepine, LA. Replicated plots were planted to compare with ‘Jemalong’ and ‘Parabinga’ barrel medic (M. truncatula Gaertn.), ‘Circle Valley’ burr medic and other winter annual legumes suited for each site. At most locations, only visual evaluations were done. At Beeville and College Station, replicated plots were harvested for dry matter yield. All medics suffered 100% winterkill at El Reno, OK, and Dallas, TX. About half of the plants of Armadillo survived at Vernon, TX, while few to no plants of the commercial medics survived. Armadillo performed well at Stephenville, College Station, and Beeville. Excessive winter-spring rains resulted in flooded conditions at Yoakum in 1997 and plots were lost because of waterlogged soils. None of the medics performed well in the sandy acid soils of East Texas and Louisiana. Armadillo performed well in the high pH soils of Central and South Texas. Freeze tolerance exceeded that of all commercial medics, but the northern limit of adaptability appears to be somewhere south of I-20. The dry matter yields of Armadillo are comparable to those of the commercial medics. Yields of Armadillo of about 4500 kg ha^–1 are comparable to those observed over several years of evaluation of Jemalong barrel medic (Ocumpaugh et al., 1997).

Spaced plants of Armadillo, Circle Valley, ‘Santiago’, and ‘Serena’ burr medic were established at TAES-Beeville and at Kenedy, TX, to evaluate flowering and seed characteristics in 1996-1997. Armadillo flowers 2 to 4 wk later than all the commercial burr medics. Seeds per burr (about five) and mean mass per 100 seed (about 0.23–0.33 g) was similar among the compared cultivars. Spine length on the burrs of Armadillo is 1.4 to 1.6 mm, whereas that of the commercial cultivars is about 0.1 mm. Hard seed content in 1997 was high (93% for Armadillo) for all cultivars when evaluated for 14 d (standard test), but when performed for 56 d, hard seed percentage declined somewhat (to 70% for Armadillo). Previous tests for hardseededness of Armadillo burr medic have typically shown it to be in the upper 90% range (Ocumpaugh et al., 1997). Since 1997 was a very wet year during the seed development period, this may have reduced the hardseededness (Smith, 1988). In previous comparisons (Ocumpaugh et al., 1997), Armadillo burr medic had much higher hardseededness than Jemalong or Parabinga barrel medic ( >90% vs. <50%).

We have harvested over 1100 kg ha^–1 of seed from Armadillo; however, commercial production has been less than 500 kg ha^–1. Seed production under grazing has not been documented but it will produce an abundance of seed. This high level of seed production combined with the hardseededness permits this plant to persist under grazing and erratic rainfall patterns of central and south Texas.

Powdery mildew (caused by Erysiphe polygoni DC) can be a problem late in the season in seed production areas where total season growth accumulates. It can be a problem in grazed pastures late in the season if conditions are favorable for development. Spotted cucumber beetles (Diabrotica undecimpuncta howardi Barber) will feed on the small seedlings but normally do not cause a significant problem. Armadillo is susceptible to the larvae of the alfalfa weevil (Hypera postica Gyllenhal) (Muir et al., 2001).

Foundation seed of Armadillo is available to licensees and for research purposes from Texas Foundation Seed Services (a division of Texas Agric. Exp. Stn.), Vernon, TX. Armadillo is protected under the Plant Variety Protection Act (U. S. PVP Certificate 200000064), and only Certified seed can be sold. Stand life on both Foundation and Certified fields are limited to 5 years. There is no Registered class of seed. An exclusive release of Armadillo marketing rights has been licensed to Pogue Agri Partners, Inc. Kenedy, TX.

NOTES

Registration by CSSA.

Accepted for publication October 31, 2003.

REFERENCES

• Anonymous. 1956. Cogwheel bur clover. Texas Agric. Exp. Stn. L-285.
• Muir, J.P., W.D. Pitman, and D.F. Coombs. 2001. Seeding rate and phosphorus fertilization effects on ‘Armadillo’ burr medic establishment. Agron. J. 93:1269–1275.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Ocumpaugh, W.R., M.A. Hussey, J.N. Rahmes, W.J. Grichar, Jr., D.C. Sestak, and R. Smith. 1997. Burr medic—A persistent cool-season legume for Texas. p. 59–63. In Proc. American Forage and Grassland Council, Georgetown, TX.
• Ocumpaugh, W.R. 1990. Coastal bermudagrass-legume mixtures vs. nitrogen fertilizer for grazing in a semiarid environment. J. Prod. Agric. 3:371–376.
• Smith, G.R. 1988. Screening subterranean clover for persistent hard seed. Crop Sci. 28:998–1000.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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