AESCHYNOMENE-EVENIA C-WRIGHT (EVENIA AESCHYNOMENE), A PERENNIAL LEGUME FOR GRAZING IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Evenia aeschynomene, Aeschynomene evenia C. Wright, is a new tropical legume that was introduced to the Agricultural Research and Education Center, Fort Pierce (ARECFP) in 1977. In 1998, seeds of A. evenia plan ts invading an abandoned field at the ARECFP were collected and design ated as IRFL 6945. The object of this report is to present a descripti on and research results of the species in general and of IRFL 6945 in particular. Data included flowering dates, winter liveover, disease an d insect incidence, persistence under grazing, productivity, seed char acterization, and agronomic characterization. An erect herb (to about 1.5 m), A. evenia is water tolerant and produces seed and green foliag e throughout the year, barring frost. When no frost occurs, plants ove rwinter. Plant populations were greater than 50% at the end of a 5-yr clipping experiment. In September 1992, crude protein (CP) and in vitr o organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) concentrations of the top 30 cm of widely-spaced plants were 235 and 665, and 296 and 677 g kg-1 for closely spaced plants, respectively. Seed weight of IRFL 6945 is as mu ch as 42 to 65% greater than that of common aeschynomene, A. americana L. IRFL 470. Seed yield was about 100 kg ha-1 when combine harvested. Cattle graze succulent stems up to 6-mm diam. In the spring and summe r, while they select smaller sizes in the autumn. Maturity of stem dev elopment rather than stem diameter appears to regulate consumption. In the second year, IRFL 6945 seedlings grew more rapidly than those of IRFL 470, and seedling recruitment occurred in bahiagrass from spring into fall compared with that of IRFL 470.