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Research has increased the use of perennial peanut
as a forage in the South. Click the image for more information about
it.
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Perennial Peanut for Quality Pastures and Hay
By Alfredo
Flores
March 3, 2008 After more than a half century of
research, the rhizoma perennial peanut is now considered by many growers to be
the best perennial warm-weather legume for southeastern statesthe
"alfalfa of the South."
Developed cooperatively by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and other state and federal agencies,
the perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata, is well adapted to the lower
South, where its nutritional quality, persistence and broad use are making it a
staple pasturage and hay crop at a fraction of alfalfa's cost. Today, rhizoma
perennial peanut has become the premium forage for the Gulf Coast.
State and federal cooperators involved in developing A. glabrata
included the ARS Subtropical Agricultural Research Station (STARS),
Brooksville, Fla.; the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Brooksville Plant
Materials Center; and the University of
Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The collaboration got
under way when a collection of A. glabrata accessions from South America
was introduced to Florida in the 1930s.
A major breakthrough in perennial peanut research came in the 1980s with the
release of Florigraze and Arbrook, which produced much more forage than earlier
releases. STARS research leader
Sam
Coleman and colleagues in Brooksville in the 1980s and 1990swith
former STARS forage agronomist Mimi Williams, now with NRCS in Gainesville,
Fla.demonstrated the nutritional value of A. glabrata to livestock
and are widely responsible for its high demand as a hay crop.
Today, perennial peanut's net profit exceeds $500 per acre annually, with
demand for hay exceeding production. Current annual salespredominantly as
hay, but also as planting material and ornamentalsexceed $7 million.
Researchers are now seeking ways to combat adaptability problems that make
A. glabrata uneconomical when planted for hay or pasturage in wetter
soils, or in the region's more northern areas. However, since traditional
breeding methods aren't practical because the plant produces very little seed,
new plant material is being sought from its native range in South America.
Read
more about the research in the March 2008 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.