Gage County
1115 West Scott St.,
Beatrice NE 68310
Phone: (402) 223-1384
FAX: (402) 223-1370

News Column

Paul C Hay, Extension Educator

Forage Corner

Brown MidRib
This isn't a new religious trait from the holy garden. The center of the leaf which contains compound lignin compounds which provide support for the grass leaves is called the midrib. Because of the lignin compounds the animals cannot digest much of the midrib of the leaf. Several years ago researchers discovered a genetic trait which reduces the lignin compounds in the midrib. It is called brown midrib because the midrib will have a brownish tint rather than the normal whitish color.

This trait has now been introduced into forage hybrids in sudangrass, sorghum-sudan crosses, forage sorghum, millets and some corn varieties. These plant materials are designed for forage use when grazing and forage harvest will not be delayed or options changed to other uses. For example: A brown midrib corn would be used for silage and would not be diverted to grain harvest. The reason is that plant standability is reduced along with the reduced lignins.

The reason livestock producers should be interested is that used in a timely manner the reduced lignin also increase animal digestibility of the forage chosen.

Brown midrib materials should be considered by producers looking to graze, hay or ensile selected forages in a timely manner.

Leafhopper Resistant Alfalfa
There are new varieties of alfalfa on the market which offer potato leafhopper resistance as part of the disease/insect package. We do have leafhoppers here which can be troublesome for alfalfa production. There are several reasons which I feel come into play which would make it unlikely we should choose leafhopper resistant varieties at this time.

The seed is considerably more expensive. The resistance trait is not fully expressed until the alfalfa is established. The vast majority of the potato leaf hopper damage we see is to seedling alfalfa in spring seeded plantings. Yield of these varieties is likely to be less in the absence of leaf hopper pressure. Other trait selection is more important like bacterial wilt and anthracnose resistance.

Excellent control of potato leafhoppers is usually easy to achieve. Scout spring seeded alfalfa in June, especially be watchful is there is a bit of a canopy of broadleaf weeds over the young alfalfa. This is a favored spot for the potato leafhopper. Cutting will generally stop them 95% of the time. Occasionally we may need to treat with an insecticide if the potato leafhoppers survive the cutting an start to damage the next cutting.

In established alfalfa timely cutting and scouting new growth if they were present at harvest will stop a very high percentage of the problems. Again stalled growth followed by some showers which encourages broadleaf weeds will favor leafhoppers and clipping for control.

View other Gage County News Columns & News Letters: http://gage.unl.edu/news/news.htm

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