ABSTRACT
Cauquenes-INIA, a new Chilean cultivar of burr medic (Medicago polymorpha) for Mediterranean dryland areas.

Carlos Ovalle M. 1, Alejandro del Pozo L.2, Julia Avendaño R.3, Teresa Aravena3 y M. Elena Díaz3
 

Cauquenes-INIA is the first cultivar of burr medic (Medicago polymorpha), released by the Cauquenes Experimental Center of the National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA). It was selected from a collection of germoplasm obtained from an expedition through the Mediterranean zone of central Chile, between La Serena (29º 55’ S lat.) and Temuco (38º 47’ S lat.), in 1988. It is an annual forage legume, for subhumid and humid Mediterranean zones, especially appropriate for farming systems where the pasture is rotated with cereals (ley farming systems). It is a semi-precocious cultivar (approximately 100 days from emergence to first flower), with semi-erect growth, yellow flowers, spineless pods and a high percentage of hard seeds. Dry matter production (6570 and 6350 kg DM ha-1) and seed yield (82 and 88 kg ha-1) proved to be similar or superior to Australian cultivars of burr medic available in the national market.

Keywords: Chile, mediterranean climate, forage legume, annual medic, dry matter, seed yield.
1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Centro Regional de Investigación Quilamapu, Casilla 426, Chillán , Chile. E-mail: covalle@inia.cl.
2 Universidad de Concepción, Facultad de Agronomía, Casilla 537, Chillán, Chile. E-mail: adelpozo@udec.cl.
3 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Centro Experimental Cauquenes, Casilla 165, Cauquenes, Chile.