Legacy Seeds Alfalfa Breeding Program

Legacy Seeds 290 Depot Street

Scandinavia, WI 54977 866-791-6390

www.legacyseeds.com

Legacy Seeds is committed to providing solutions to agriculture and

serving the American farmer.

Legacy Seeds began breeding alfalfa in 2000 after hiring Dave Huset, a long-time and very successful alfalfa breeder. Dave established an alfalfa research farm near Evansville, WI with outlying forage yield/persistence testing locations near West Bend, Fond du Lac, Waupaca, Lancaster, Livingston and Auburndale, WI along with a testing location near Elkader, IA.

The focus on this breeding program is to develop conventionally bred alfalfas for the dormant and semi-dormant production regions. Dave began working on breeding for high yielding alfalfas with high digestibility “HD®” and resistance to Aphanomyces Race 2 “StandLife Genetics®”. Since 2012 Legacy Seeds is the only independent alfalfa breeding program in the United States.

In this brochure we will travel through the steps of breeding alfalfa from the initial germplasm identification, selecting the disease resistant, persistent, highest forage yielding plants to make the first cross of Breeder Seed. After that seed is produced, identifying which are the elite experimental germplasms and increasing seed for alfalfa growers to plant.

2004 marked the first release of “HD®” Highly Digestible alfalfas which have become the benchmark of the Legacy breeding program. Along with the HD® alfalfas, Legacy released the StandLife Genetics® alfalfas with multiple isolate resistance to Aphanomyces Race 2.

HD® “Highly Digestible” Alfalfa Delivers:

Forage Yield

Outstanding forage yield performance

Forage Quality

Varieties with extended harvest window 28-35 day Varieties with aggressive harvest window 25-30 day

Disease Resistance

Excellent resistance to seven major pathogens

2004

L-411HD

L-311

2006

L-447HD 2009

L-333HD

Foregrazer V

2011

L-449APH2

2014

L-455HD

2016

L-504HD

2018

L-470HD

L-451APH2+

2019 L-457HD+

Disease, Insect and Nematode Evaluations After selecting alfalfa germplasm to breed with, the alfalfa plants are selected for a combination of pests. The initial evaluations and selections are started in the greenhouse. Listed are common diseases, insects, and nematodes that effect alfalfa:

Diseases

Anthracnose Races 1 and 5 Aphanomyces Root Rot Races 1, 2 and 3 Bacterial Wilt Fusarium Wilt Leaf Diseases Phytophthora Root Rot Verticillium Wilt

Insects

Blue Alfalfa Aphid Pea Aphid Aphanomyces Root Rot (Race 3) Potato Leaf Hopper L to R: L-451APH2+/Megatron Spotted Alfalfa Aphid

Nematodes Northern Root-knot Nematode Southern Root-knot Nematode Stem Nematode Root-lesion Nematode

Greenhouse seedling testing Phytophthora root rot resistance

Glandular Hair on an alfalfa stem for resistance to Potato Leaf Hopper

Plant Selections Disease resistant plants from the green house and/or field selections are transplanted to a nursery for evaluations. Characteristics evaluated are:

Alfalfa Evaluation Nursery

1. Herbage growth2. Forage Quality3. Regrowth4. Leaf Disease5. Multi-foliate6. Root Type7. Crown Type8. Fall Dormancy9. Winter Survival

After two to three winters, the best plants are dug and transplanted to a Breeder Seed cage at the Legacy research farm near Nampa, ID.

Plants susceptible to root rots are discarded.

Healthy plants are selected and sent to the Legacy Alfalfa

Research location in Idaho for seed increase.

Plant Traits Alfalfa varieties are selected for unique agronomic traits. These features allow plants to perform in a wider range of soil types and management applications. These features are:

Branch Root The branch root feature allows the plant to persist

and be more productive in poorly drained soils. This feature keeps more of the root system above the water table which allow the rhizobia to fix nitrogen thus allowing the plant to be productive. Branch rootedness helps reduce heaving pressure as it helps anchor the plant in the ground.

Sunken Crown

The sunken crown feature places the crown about 1 ½ inch deep. This crown depth helps protect the crown from animal and wheel traffic damage. The sunken crown also helps protect the crown from cold temperatures.

Forage Yield and Quality Testing

New alfalfa varieties are planted in research plots with under normal and delayed cutting regimes and harvested 3-4 times a year for at least 3 years.

Side by side comparisons of a competitor versus an “HD®” alfalfa.

Forage quality samples are collected and sent to an independent lab for analysis.

Seed Production

Breeder Seed Cage

Certified Seed Production in Idaho

Legacy Seeds is also an alfalfa production

company, having grown millions of pounds of

alfalfa. Our reputation of high integrity with our grower base helps us

find high quality growers for our genetics.

Legacy Seeds 290 Depot Street

Scandinavia, WI 54977 866-791-6390

www.legacyseeds.com

Leaf Cutter Bees hatching out for alfalfa pollination.