Murdoch University researchers have delivered a new cultivar of French Serradella that is set to increase the sustainability of Wheatbelt crop-pasture rotations and lower the carbon footprint of cropping by as much as 50 percent.
The Wheatbelt is the source for nearly two-thirds of Western Australia's wheat production. However, as climate change makes farming the region more challenging each year, scientists are working to evolve crops for the conditions.
Associate Professor Bradley Nutt is at the forefront of that work, having reverse-engineered a new cultivar, named Fran2o, by selecting and cross breeding for the hard seed and early maturity characteristics required to thrive.
Farmers will be able to use the unique hard seed breakdown patterns of the pasture legume to sow seed in summer, when machinery and labour are available, after which the autumn rains germinate the plants to maximise nitrogen fixation and production through winter.
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