This award will support the participation of eight U.S. scientists in a seminar on the "Persistence of Pasture Legumes," organized jointly by Professor A.G. Matches of Texas Tech University, Dr. R.J. Clements of the Australian CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, and Dr. G.W. Sheath of the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, New Zealand. Participants from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand will meet at the University of Hawaii in July 1988. The major themes of the seminar will be development and growth characteristics of legumes, stresses caused by climate and soils, pests and diseases, Rhizobium symbiosis, genetics and breeding for persistence, and the management of legumes. The poor persistence of legumes in pasture lands of the U.S., Australia and New Zealand is a vexing problem. Research leading to more widespread establishment and persistence of pasture legumes would result in increased production of foraging stock and an enrichment of soil nitrogen levels. This seminar will bring together leading scientists from three countries in order to discuss the present state of knowledge on the persistence of pasture legumes. The seminar participants will identify gaps in current knowledge and establish priorities for future cooperative research.
