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Genetically Engineered Alfalfa and Feral Alfalfa Plants : What Should Growers Know?
PNW (Series), 685., Washington State University Extension
03/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/6040
Abstract
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. sativa L.) is the world's most important forage crop. The western United States is the most important production area for both alfalfa forage and alfalfa seed. Unfortunately, feral alfalfa is commonly observed along roadsides, irrigation ditches, and unmanaged habitats in alfalfa growing regions. These plants can potentially lower the genetic purity of alfalfa seed when foraging bees transport pollen from feral alfalfa to alfalfa seed fields. The situation has become more complicated since the advent of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa. Alfalfa was the first major perennial GE crop when the trait for glyphosate resistance (GR) was available to farmers briefly from 2005 to 2007. Regulatory issues prevented the availability of GR alfalfa until 2011 when it received final approval for commercial production in the US. In 2014, another GE trait, low-lignin alfalfa, was deregulated and will be available commercially in the near future. Because many markets have a low tolerance for GE traits, GR feral alfalfa growth in areas where conventional alfalfa seed and hay is produced for the export or organic market is of particular concern to the alfalfa industry. In response to this situation, the alfalfa industry has developed best management practices to support the coexistence of GE and conventional alfalfa production. An important management practice is to control feral alfalfa around both seed and hay fields to minimize the movement of GE traits into conventional alfalfa products. The presence of feral alfalfa plants can be reduced by effectively eliminating old alfalfa fields with tillage, transporting seed in spill-proof containers, mowing roadsides regularly, applying specific growth regulator herbicides (such as aminopyralid, dicamba, clopyralid, and 2,4-D), and integrating these weed management strategies (such as applying herbicides to alfalfa prior to tillage or mowing). Glyphosate should not be used to control feral alfalfa unless it is mixed with other herbicides known to control GR alfalfa. Also avoid using alfalfa in revegetation seed mixes, especially in areas where GE-sensitive alfalfa seed is produced.
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Details
- Title
- Genetically Engineered Alfalfa and Feral Alfalfa Plants : What Should Growers Know?
- Creators
- Sandya Rani Kesoju (Author)Stephanie L. Greene (Author)Rick A. Boydston (Author)
- Academic Unit
- Publications, WSU Extension
- Series
- PNW (Series); 685.
- Publisher
- Washington State University Extension; Pullman, Washington
- Identifiers
- 99900502538801842
- Copyright
- In copyright ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Report