First Roundup-Ready Alfalfa to Grow in Utah

LOGAN — Utah's top cash crop, alfalfa, is grown on more than 700,000 acres of farmland, but one half-acre plot at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station in Kaysville is a real standout.

It looks like many other meticulously tended alfalfa stands, but it is the first Roundup Ready alfalfa to be grown in Utah. Regulatory review for the newly engineered alfalfa was just completed in late June for use on farms in the United States. Utah State University crop scientist Ralph Whitesides worked with Monsanto to get a research plot established prior to certification so he could begin testing this newest Roundup Ready crop under Utah growing conditions.

Roundup is an herbicide commonly used to control broadleaf and grass weeds. Roundup Ready crops, such as corn and soybeans which are already in production, are engineered to survive applications of the herbicide, allowing growers to spray emerging or existing stands to kill weeds but not crops.

"We learned that Roundup Ready alfalfa was in the works and approached Monsanto to see about our putting in a test plot as part of the ongoing weed management research we do," Whitesides said. "It's very exciting because alfalfa is such an important crop in Utah. And while there are plants, like cotton, that have been engineered to resist pests or diseases, and there are other Roundup Ready crops, this is the first perennial plant to be certified."

The Roundup Ready alfalfa is growing among the other test plots where Whitesides studies various weed management strategies. Controlling weeds early before they compete with seedlings for water, sunlight and nutrients is critical when alfalfa is becoming established, and fighting weeds at the end of a plot's lifetime is also very important as yield tends to decline. The researchers grew other test plots of alfalfa at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station farm site, including a control plot that received no weed control and others treated with Pursuit and Raptor, two commonly used herbicides. Some herbicides can injure crops which can affects the yield and quality of the forage. Early trials at agricultural experiment stations in other states indicate that applying Roundup over the top of Roundup Ready alfalfa resulted in excellent weed control and virtually no crop injury

That appears to be the case in the Utah trial as well, but yield and nutritional quality of the alfalfa will be determined once Whitesides and his research assistants sort the alfalfa from any weeds by hand, a one meter square swath at a time, and send it to another lab for analysis. People have voiced concerns over other genetically engineered plants that have been released into the environment because of the possibility of their crossbreeding with other varieties.

"I'm not worried about the alfalfa out crossing," Whiteside said. "But we are harvesting it before it flowers to avoid even the possibility that it could, and because we are growing it for forage, not for seed production."

The coming seasons will also provide the researchers with information about the alfalfa's hardiness during a Utah winter. Whitesides said a limited amount a Roundup Ready alfalfa seed will be available to growers this fall, and a more plentiful supply will be available spring 2007.