02/01/1994

New Forage Options Springing from van Santen's Research

AUBURN, Ala. - In a forage-rich state such as Alabama, new options in forages are always of interest to cattle producers. They also are of interest to Edzard van Santen, associate professor of Agronomy and Soils at Auburn University. Though van Santen only joined the Auburn staff in 1988, his research already has led to some new ways to enhance the production of high quality forages in Alabama.

A native of Germany, van Santen received a master's degree in biology and chemistry from Phillips University Marburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. He came to the United States in 1978 to work at the University of Chicago before going on to the University of Wisconsin to obtain his master's and Ph.D. degrees in plant breeding and plant genetics.

Since arriving at Auburn, van Santen has been taking a close look at tall fescue, one of Alabama's primary cool-season forage crops. Much of his research, which has been conducted through the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) at Auburn, has focused on the response of different tall fescue varieties to grazing stress.

A grazing experiment at the Black Belt Substation in Marion Junction is using 25 small plots of different fescue populations and cultivars to test both palatability and hardiness of traditional and fungus-free fescues. Four stocking rates are being evaluated in the study.

"Within several days after cattle were put onto the pastures, the plot areas began to resemble a patchwork quilt," said van Santen. "There were large differences in the amount of forage grazed from various plots."

According to van Santen, within three days after cattle were turned out on the pastures, certain plots were grazed to ground level, regardless of whether the stocking rate was high or low.

Kenhy, a fungus-free variety from the University of Kentucky, was highly favored by the cattle. Some 95 percent of the forage was removed by grazing, while most of the other entries were less than half as attractive to cattle. Georgia-5 endophyte-free fescue was another popular selection among the cattle and it provided an interesting comparison for van Santen because Georgia-5 endophyte-infected fescue also was included in the plot.

"These varieties are identical, except that one is fungus-free," said van Santen. "Animals removed almost twice as much of the Georgia-5 endophyte-free fescue forage as they did the Georgia-5 endophyte-infected selection."

This study has shown that removing the endophyte from fescue increases it's attractiveness to cattle, and suggests that animal preference ratings should be taken into consideration as breeding material is evaluated. "If these palatability studies are not considered by plant breeders, potential new varieties may be rejected because of what may appear to be a lack of vigor, but is really a case of animals over-grazing highly palatable selections," noted van Santen.

In cooperation with other Auburn research and extension faculty members, van Santen is also investigating the effect of soil pH and soil fertility on establishment of identical endophyte-free and endophyte-infected tall fescue varieties. During the first year of this study, researchers found that seeding was reduced by 50% if the pH dropped below 5.5.

Another discovery from van Santen's work is that two-year evaluations of fescue can provide virtually the same information as three-year evaluations. This may help researchers accelerate their work, thus providing information to producers at a faster pace.

Fescue is not van Santen's only area of interest. He also has been a leader in AAES evaluations of white lupin varieties for Alabama production. According to van Santen, sweet white lupin is naturally adapted to the soils found in the Coastal Plain of the United States. It is a nitrogen-fixing legume and may fit well into a double-cropping system in Alabama, and it has potential as a grain and as a forage crop.

The focus of van Santen's lupin work has been to identify varieties that will work in Alabama and also to look at basic agronomic practices needed to make a successful lupin crop.

This work began in 1989 and results have shown that planting dates need to be adjusted to match varieties with local environmental conditions.

"There is a future for lupin in Alabama's agriculture," said van Santen. "But don't look for thousands of acres of flowering lupins in the next three years. Developing a new crop is a long, arduous process."

Future research on this crop will look at the value of lupin grain and silage in animal diets and also the development of varieties that are better adapted to Alabama's climatic conditions. van Santen also has developed a new cultivar of crimson clover, known as AU Robin. This cultivar was developed specifically to address the need for an early-maturing winter legume cover crop.

"AU Robin reaches full bloom seven to 10 days earlier than Tibbee, the earliest maturing crimson clover available thus far," explained van Santen.

According to van Santen, the earlier flowering and seed maturity of AU Robin will allow producers to prepare fields for summer row crops earlier than they had been able to with other varieties. In addition, this new cultivar expands the possibility of reseeding systems that would be more economical than planting a cover crop each fall.

"Plenty of seed will be available next fall," added van Santen.

Another facet of van Santen's work at Auburn is teaching. He teaches several graduate level courses in plant breeding, genetics, and experimental methods and oversees graduate programs for several graduate students.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu

February 1, 1994