Yellow-Flowered Falcata Shining in Two-Cut Harvest Schedules

By Jane Fyksen, Crops Editor
Thursday, May 31, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Falcata Alfalfa

Hay-making can be a challenge in Wisconsin, especially getting adequately warm, dry weather during first-crop. A new yellow-flowered subspecie of alfalfa called "falcata," which maintains its quality longer than the tried-and-true purple-flowered alfalfa (sativa), shows promise of a remedy to producers' hay-making headaches.

Falcata's fit is in livestock operations, such as beef cow-calf or sheep, where producers don't really need top-quality forage, such as for high-producing dairy cows. Another niche is, however, on dairy farms for dry cows. Dairy producers could get up their traditional first-crop of top-quality alfalfa for the milking string, and harvest falcata later. The yellow-flowered alfalfa would put more flexibility in the system and it'd have better quality at a later date than the traditional purple-flowered alfalfa everybody has.

Timothy Dietz, a research assistant at Michigan State University, thinks falcata is showing a lot of promise. Dietz also farms with his uncle and father. Their operation was dairy until the '80s, when they switched to beef cow-calf for a time before going to strictly cash crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and a small amount of forage). Dietz, who manages Michigan State's forage variety trials, has a master's in crop and soil science and is a doctorate candidate. (His doctorate area of study is falcata.)

Dietz says they normally harvest alfalfa at 750 growing degree days where he's at in Michigan. Arlington and Marshfield are on a time frame that's "pretty similar," meaning that what he has to say about falcata from his "Michigan perspective" is directly transferable to Wisconsin.

Falcata is ideal for operations that really only need two cuttings a year, not needing super-high crude protein to meet beef cow or ewe nutritional needs. The yellow-blossom falcata enables producers to delay first-cutting until mid-June and still get some decent hay. Cutting purple-flowered alfalfa that late results in a big quality drop-off; it's losing leaves and getting stemmy by then. Falcata, though, maintains its quality longer.

"The growth habit is different. It's more like trefoil," he remarks. "Even though it flowers it puts on vegetative growth. With sativa, (once it flowers) all the energy goes to seed production. It abandons leaflets." While purple-flowered alfalfa is determinant in its growth, falcata is more "indeterminant-like."

Dietz says falcata is more branched than vernal and some of the early varieties. It's much closer in growth habit to some of the newer grazing types of alfalfa. It can be grown where purple-blossom alfalfa is grown now. He'd expect it to "scavenge" for potassium and phosphorus the same.

With falcata, a producer could simply plan on making first-crop in mid-June when it's 80 degrees and the hay is less likely to be rained on, and "end up with better hay."

Falcata has been quietly thriving on the Northern Plains for decades. It reportedly started around 1915 after a traveling scientist gave a handful of seeds to a local homesteader. It's survived on the plains with virtually no help whatsoever. Falcata originated on the Siberian plains not far from the Artic Circle.

Being from Siberia, falcata has also done well in Canada. It's very winterhardy, notes Dietz.

A day in the life of a rangeland plant is marked by fierce competition for life-sustaining water. Around 2000, USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists discovered proliferating, interseeded area of falcata alfalfa on the Norman "Bud" Smith ranch east of Lodgepole, S.D. Smith is a descendent of the homesteader who'd gotten the original seeds almost a century earlier.

Falcata has a more fibrous root system that's unlike traditional alfalfa with its long, main taproot. Its root system, more like a grass, allows it to compete with native grasses and forbs for limited moisture out West.

Falcata is mostly in the Dakotas, for hay and pasture, notes Dietz, reporting that Wind River Seed at Manderson, Wyo., markets a yellow-flowered variety called "Yellowhead," but Dietz says its probably less than 30 percent true falcata and more of a cross between purple and yellow-flowered.

The University of Wisconsin is doing some breeding work on falcata, as is South Dakota State University. Dietz in Michigan, though, is the first to do production trials on yield and quality. He says Rich Leep, a forage agronomist in Michigan, is working with a seed production effort in Oregon. They're anticipating a truer falcata alfalfa to become commercially available within the next five years.

Dietz also thinks falcata would do well in mixed pastures with grass, in situations where traditional purple-flowered alfalfa tends to get too mature and lignifies. The more finer-stemmed falcata would be more palatable for grazing livestock.

A nice side benefit is that it also appears to have very good natural resistance to potato leafhopper and alfalfa weevil, says Dietz. While falcata averaged 2.3 alfalfa weevil-damaged stems per 20, sativa averaged 14.8. Falcata showed no "hopperburn" and its yellowing scores weren't different from trefoil.

He established his falcata in the spring of 2005 and took one cutting in the seeding year. Last year, he had a full-scale trial comparing purple-flowered alfalfa, falcata and birdsfoot trefoil under various cutting schedules: three cuts (early June, late July and early September), two cuttings (late June and Mid-August) and one cutting in mid-July).

Pure-stand falcata did best in a two-cut system, turning in 6.3 tons of dry matter per acre. Here are the averaged tonnages from the Michigan cutting trials at two locations last year:

One cutting - sativa, 50.8; falcata, 50.8; trefoil, 55.7. (Neither the sativa or falcata met the average requirement for a beef cow when cut just once, though trefoil did.)

Dietz cautions that he's only "forecasting," but in terms of standability, he thinks it'll persist in the Upper Midwest. He'd been concerned about disease issues moving this yellow-flowered alfalfa east of the Mississippi River where it's more humid, but so far at least, he hasn't seen any disease.

He notes that if producers look around, they'll see some "falcata" already on the market. However, he warns that all "falcatas" may not have the same percent of true falcata plants. When they're not pure, yields drop off, he notes.

At Michigan they've also had a variety trial going, comparing SD201 (pure flacata) to Spredor 3, WL 348LH, Travois, Yellowhead, Ladak, Vernal (which had some falcata parentage way back when) and Norcen trefoil. The true falcata out-yielded them all in both two-cut and one-cut systems.

He notes that early alfalfa varieties had a greater portion of their genetics form falcata. However, it's been of minor importance to alfalfa breeders, who've placed more emphasis on high yield in short harvest intervals (i.e. sativa), with the negative result being poorer persistence.

As noted, the "breeder selections" are SD201 and Wisfal (at the UW). Increases are currently underway, and seed will become available for sale in the near future.

Additional benefit of falcata and delayed harvests is improved pheasant, waterfowl and songbird habitat, as you are less apt to cut the forage during nesting.

Dietz says he gets a lot of questions from producer about falcata's "hayability." Will it plug the mower? Will it lodge (as trefoil tends to do)? He can't yet answer questions about drying time. He doesn't think it'll lodge.

As for planting trefoil or falcata, he says falcata is higher yields and not as apt to lodge. Trefoil, however, tolerates a wider range of soil pH than alfalfa does (falcata included). Falcata can cause bloat, where trefoil doesn't.

Dietz says falcata can be seeded basically the same as purple-flowered alfalfa. It does, unfortunately, seem to have less seedling vigor than traditional alfalfa, he notes. He seeded 16 to 18 pounds of "pure live seed" per acre. Falcata has a higher percentage of hard seed, about 15 percent. The actual seeding rate was up around 19 pounds.

He's also does some grazing/pasture work with falcata, again comparing it to sativa and trefoil in mixtures with meadow fescue, late-maturing timothy, later-maturing orchardgrass and alone. Graziers need an easily established, persistent, palatable and high-yield legume for their pastures.

The grazing schedule based on plant height was: Grazed mid-April; harvested for haylage May 17; grazed on June 6, July 11, Aug. 14 and Sept. 19. At another location, grazing events were: May 23, July 10, Aug. 9 and Oct. 25. There was also a grazing trial in the Upper Peninsular. The grazing trial average yield totals for all locations were in descending order: sativa/fescue, falcata/fescue, sativa/timothy, sativa/orchardgrass, falcata/timothy, falcata/orchardgrass, trefoil/orchargrass, trefoil/timothy and trefoil/fescue.

Due to a fairly aggressive grazing schedule, Dietz says there wasn't as great an advantage to falcata. He thinks the grass played a bigger role. The falcata held up well to grazing and there wasn't loss of stand. He notes it tends to compete with meadow fescue, which may cause the stand to thin. He's "only guessing," but suspects it'd be better with timothy or smooth brome.

He says falcata may be "creep-rooted." It has more tillers per crown, resulting in wider crows. The stems are finer and it doesn't stand up quite as straight.

Dietz says if the 2007 research outcome is the same as last year, the most important question for producers may be, "What should I do with the extra time I have?"

He suggests "fishing" or "write the fuel delivery truck driver a letter since he hasn't been out in awhile," or "call up you seed sales rep and tell them that you won't need alfalfa seed; the yellow-blossom alfalfa is still there."

 

Comments »

will wrote on Dec 13, 2008 10:28 PM:

" Does anybody know where I can buy Falcata seed? "

Cal wrote on Nov 5, 2007 4:20 PM:

" A "pure" stand of falcata might not be the desired goal as any benefit from heterosis between sativa and falcata will be lost. Not all falcata will have a yellow flower. "

---

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)