Of the eight new alfalfas approved by the National Alfalfa & Miscellaneous Legumes Variety Review Board, five are Roundup Ready varieties and three are conventional alfalfas.

Information on the pest resistance and winterhardiness of all eight is available in the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance leaflet, published in the November Hay & Forage Grower. Each variety within the eight-page guide is currently being marketed and is eligible for certification by seed-certifying agencies.

But here’s a peek at the newest elite varieties:

Of the conventional varieties, DKA40-16 is a winterhardy fall-dormancy 4 with improved salt tolerance and high multifoliolate leaf expression from Dekalb. It has high resistance to the top six alfalfa diseases – bacterial, verticillium and fusarium wilts; anthracnose race 1; phytophthora root rot; and aphanomyces race 1 root rot – as well as stem nematode. It also shows resistance to pea aphid.

A fall-dormancy 5 alfalfa from Farm Science Genetics, FSG 524, has high multifoliolate leaf expression and high resistance to the top pests. It exhibits resistance to stem nematode and pea aphid.

A Dairyland Seed variety, Magna 715, is a fall-dormancy 7 conventional with high resistance to fusarium wilt, anthracnose, pea aphid and northern and southern root-knot nematode. It’s resistant to bacterial and verticillium wilts, phytophthora root rot and stem nematode.

Of the Roundup Ready alfalfas, two are fall-dormancy 4 varieties – Dekalb’sDKA40-51RR and Croplan’s RR VaMoose – both with high resistance to the six major alfalfa diseases. DKA40-51RR also exhibits high resistance to aphanomyces race 2 root rot and resistance to spotted alfalfa aphid and stem nematode. The salt-tolerant RR VaMoose also shows high resistance to potato leafhopper, resistance to pea aphid and moderate resistance to spotted alfalfa aphid and stem nematode.

A fall-dormancy 5 variety from Pioneer, 55VR06highly resists all but one of the six major alfalfa pests – fusarium wilt. But the alfalfa exhibits resistance to fusarium wilt as well as to spotted alfalfa and pea aphids, and moderate resistance to aphanomyces root rot and stem nematode.

RR Six Shooter, a fall-dormancy 6, high-expression multifoliolate from Croplan, highly resists all the six major pests except aphanomyces root rot. It also exhibits high resistance to spotted alfalfa and pea aphids and stem nematode. It’s resistant to southern root-knot nematode.

Nexgrow’s fall-dormancy 7, salt-tolerant alfalfa, 6829R, displays high resistance to spotted alfalfa and pea aphids, stem nematode and phytophthora root rot. It’s resistant to bacterial, verticillium and fusarium wilts.

(Source – http://hayandforage.com/alfalfa/eight-new-alfalfas-are-approved-variety-board)