Annual Medicago Species (Medics).
Annual Medics And Their Use In Sustainable Agriculture Systems
Dr. Gary Bauchan (USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD) and
Dr. Craig Sheaffer (University of Minnesota)
Recent interest in cropping systems with a sustainable agriculture approach has placed renewed interest on legumes throughout the U. S. Legumes can be utilized for biological nitrogen fixation, increase organic matter, reduce soil erosion, decrease pest build up through the use of crop rotation, and provide a habitat for beneficial organisms. Photo of Medicago scutellata plant showing growth habit and yellow flowers
The collection of annual Medicago species, called medics, represents potential legume plant materials to be used in these systems. The U. S. National Plant Germplasm System contains 3159 accessions of annual Medicago species, this collection includes 35 different species. Recent research efforts conducted at the USDA-ARS, Beltsville, Maryland has developed a core collection of this germplasm collection composed of approximately 200 accessions (See Diwan, N., Bauchan, G. R. and McIntosh, M. 1994 and 1995). The core collection is a subset of the whole collection intended to capture a large portion of the diversity in a collection in a relatively few accessions. (Core Collection Linkage) Annual medics have been used extensively in cropping systems in Australia for over 60 years and have been established in rotations with small grains on more than 30 million hectares.
Button, What are Annual Medics   What Are Annual Medics?
Button, Potential Uses of Annual Medics  Potential Uses Of Annual Medics
Germplasm/Variety Recommendations   Germplasm/Variety Recommendations
Sources of Seed   Sources of Seed
Button, Sources of Information   Sources of Information
Button, Annual Medicago Species Core Collection  Annual Medicago Species Core Collection
Button, Link to the NAAIC Annual Medic Workshop  Link to the NAAIC Annual Medic Workshop.
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