New annual and short-lived perennial pasture legumes for Australian agriculture—15 years of revolution P.G.H. Nichols a,b,m, * , A. Loi a,b , B.J. Nutt a,b , P.M. Evans c , A.D. Craig d , B.C. Pengelly e , B.S. Dear f , D.L. Lloyd g , C.K. Revell a,b , R.M. Nair h , M.A. Ewing a,1 , J.G. Howieson a,i , G.A. Auricht h , J.H. Howie h , G.A. Sandral f , S.J. Carr a,b,2 , C.T. de Koning j , B.F. Hackney f , G.J. Crocker k , R. Snowball a,b , S.J. Hughes h , E.J. Hall l , K.J. Foster a,b , P.W. Skinner a,b , M.J. Barbetti a,m , M.P. You a,b a Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, Locked Bag 4, Bentley Delivery Centre, WA 6983, Australia b Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia c Department of Primary Industries Victoria, Private Bag 105, Hamilton, Vic. 3300, Australia d South Australian Research and Development Institute, Struan Agricultural Centre, P.O. Box 618, Naracoorte, SA 5271, Australia e CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 306 Carmody Road, St. Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia f New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, PMB Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia g Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland, P.O. Box 102, 203 Tor Street, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia h South Australian Research and Development Institute, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia i Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Murdoch Drive, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia j South Australian Research and Development Institute, Turretfield Research Centre, Rosedale, SA 5350, Australia k New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Tamworth Agricultural Institute, 4 Marsden Park Road, Calala, NSW 2340, Australia l Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, Mt. Pleasant Laboratories, P.O. Box 46, Kings Meadows, Tasmania 7249, Australia m School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Received 26 October 2006; accepted 12 March 2007 Abstract Fifteen years ago subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) and annual medics (Medicago spp.) dominated annual pasture legume sowings in southern Australia, while limited pasture legume options existed for cropping areas of subtropical Australia. Since then a number of sustainability and economic challenges to existing farming systems have emerged, exposing shortcomings in these species and the lack of legume biodiversity. Public breeding institutions have responded to these challenges by developing 58 new annual and short-lived perennial pasture legumes with adaptation to both existing and new farming systems. This has involved commercialisation of new species and overcoming deficiencies in traditional species. Traits incorporated in legumes of Mediterranean Basin origin for the Mediterranean, temperate and southern subtropical climates of Australia include deeper root systems, protection from false breaks (germination-inducing rainfall events followed by death from drought), a range of hardseed levels, acid-soil tolerant root nodule symbioses, tolerance to pests and diseases and provision of lower cost seed through ease of seed harvesting and processing. Ten new species, French serradella (Ornithopus sativus), biserrula (Biserrula pelecinus), sulla (Hedysarum coronarium), gland (Trifolium glanduliferum), arrowleaf (Trifolium vesiculosum), eastern star (Trifolium dasyurum) and crimson (Trifolium incarnatum) clovers and sphere (Medicago sphaerocarpos), button (Medicago orbicularis) and hybrid disc (Medicago torna- ta  Medicago littoralis) medics have been commercialised. Improved cultivars have also been developed of subterranean (T. subterraneum), balansa (Trifolium michelianum), rose (Trifolium hirtum), Persian (Trifolium resupinatum) and purple (Trifolium purpureum) clovers, burr (Medicago polymorpha), strand (M. littoralis), snail (Medicago scutellata) and barrel (Medicago truncatula) medics and yellow serradella (Ornithopus compressus). New tropical legumes for pasture phases in subtropical cropping areas include butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), burgundy bean (Macroptilium bracteatum) and perennial lablab (Lablab purpureus). Other species and cultivars of Mediterranean species are www.elsevier.com/locate/fcr Field Crops Research 104 (2007) 10–23 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 8 9368 3547; fax: +61 8 9368 2958. E-mail address: pnichols@agric.wa.gov.au (P.G.H. Nichols). 1 Present address: Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. 2 Present address: Aglime of Australia, Suite 16, 890 Canning Highway, Applecross, WA 6153, Australia. 0378-4290/$ – see front matter. Crown Copyright # 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2007.03.016