Growth and production of new annual forage legumes in the Mediterranean zone of Chile. I. Species performance in the Andean foothills

This study was carried out for three seasons (2000 to 2002) in the Andean foothills of south central Chile. The climate is Mediterranean perhumid, with 1200 mm of annual rainfall, the soil is of volcanic origin, called trumao (hashy, mesic typic Haploxerands), deep (> 1 m), with a light texture. The productive performance of a collection of annual fodder legumes was evaluated: six cultivars of Ornithopus compressus , one accession and one cultivar of Ornithopus sativus , one cultivar and two accessions of Biserrula pelecinus , and one cultivar for each one of the following species: Trifolium michelianum , Trifolium resupinatum , Trifolium vesiculosum and Medicago polymorpha . Subterranean clover ( Trifolium subterraneum var. subterraneum ) cv. Mount Barker was used as a control. In a three year period T. vesiculosum stood out for having high biomass production, mainly in the third year (more than 4 t DM ha-1 yr-1), appropriate persistence, good nodulation and tolerance to low winter temperatures. O. compressus, appeared to be a new alternative fodder with excellent adaptation and high production potential, in particular, the late maturing cycle cvs. Avila, Pitman and Madeira, presented consistently high biomass yields (approximately 4 t DM ha-1 yr-1 in the third evaluation season). One cultivar and two accessions of B. pelecinus had low levels of production (less than 1 t DM ha-1 yr-1) in the three years. Similar performance was shown by M. polymorpha, T. michelianum, O. sativus and T. resupinatum, not having a production level and persistence superior to the control over the years. Se realizó este estudio durante tres temporadas (2000-2002) en la precordillera andina de la zona Centro Sur de Chile. El clima es mediterráneo perhúmedo, con 1200 mm de precipitación anual, suelo de origen volcánico (trumao) (ashy, mesic typic Haploxerands), profundo (> 1 m), textura liviana. Se evaluó el comportamiento productivo de una colección de leguminosas forrajeras anuales: seis cultivares de Ornithopus compressus , una accesión y un cultivar de Ornithopus sativus , un cultivar y dos accesiones de Biserrula pelecinus , y un cultivar de cada una de las siguientes especies: Trifolium michelianum , Trifolium resupinatum , Trifolium vesiculosum y Medicago polymorpha . Como testigo se utilizó trébol subterráneo ( Trifolium subterraneum var. subterraneum ) cv. Mount Barker. En el período de tres años T. vesiculosum sobresalió por presentar una alta producción de fitomasa, so