An insight into sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) breeding: Challenges and achievements

Over the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), particularly among western Canadian forage and beef-cattle producers. A major trigger has been the availability of new sainfoin cultivars with improved compatibility with alfalfa (Medicago sativa). These new cultivars in binary mixture with alfalfa significantly reduced the incidence of alfalfa pasture bloat in grazing animals, potentially saving an estimated CAD 300-500 million worldwide, largely by eliminating direct animal losses and expenses associated with prevention and treatment. Although the development of new sainfoin cultivars was a significant breakthrough, this alone did not ensure its adoption by producers in western Canada. Indeed, concerns and questions endured, including whether sainfoin cultivars could in fact grow together with alfalfa and persist as a perennial crop, whether including sainfoin in alfalfa stands would make the pasture bloat safe, whether the biomass yield of sainfoin was comparable to that of alfalfa for a profitable return, and whether livestock would graze sainfoin to the same extent as alfalfa. In this review study, we provide an overview of sainfoin breeding research and discuss how new sainfoin cultivars (AAC-Mountainview and AAC-Glenview) were developed in Canada for binary mixtures with alfalfa. Additionally, we highlight current progress in sainfoin breeding efforts and the prospect of this species as a livestock feed for a sustainable agriculture system.