"OKLAHOMA COMMON" ALFALFA 

The question, "What is Oklahoma Common?", has at least three answers, depending upon who asks the question. Several decades ago "Oklahoma Common" had a fairly specific meaning, but unfortunately it took on different meanings as time passed. In variety testing and in alfalfa management research, we use "Oklahoma Common" as something very specific.   

1. Sometimes "Oklahoma Common" just means an alfalfa strain whose identity has been lost. In recent years, when someone says they have Oklahoma Common, they usually mean they planted seed with an indication "variety not stated" on the tag. Sometimes this is a mixture of well-adapted types and/or unadapted types, or it may be a seed of a well-known good variety (one generation removed from certified seed) that cannot legally be sold by variety name. Occasionally this Oklahoma Common traces to some old strains.   

2. The "old" Oklahoma Commons (up until about 1960) were heterogeneous naturalized strains of alfalfa which had been grown in Oklahoma for many generations. Apparently all of those strains were the Chilean type of alfalfa which came into Oklahoma from Kansas and/or Colorado and probably originated from seed introduced into California in the mid-1800's from South America. Those strains are very similar in dormancy, winterhardiness, growth habit, general adaptation, and pest resistance.   

3. In the late 1960's, OSU researchers developed a collection of 15 different Oklahoma Commons. Each of these had been maintained by a family for many years -- usually since it was brought into the state by settlers. The "stories" about these strains were incomplete, but enough was known to draw certain conclusions. We have subsequently conducted numerous tests on this collection of commons. Some of these "old" Oklahoma commons are still in production today in a relatively pure state, and we have maintained small samples in cold storage at OSU and in the USDA germplasm collection. W.A. Elsener released his family's common as OK08, and small quantities of seed are still certified.   

The commons we have are designated by the family's name who donated the seed. They are as follows, with the approximate date of introduction to Oklahoma in parenthesis.        

     
To make matters more confused, during the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association had a program called "Oklahoma Approved Origin Alfalfa". A strain could qualify for this designation after being grown in the state for three years or more and appeared to be productive. These alfalfas were usually reasonably well-adapted. Seed of many of the "old" Oklahoma commons was produced under that system and "certified". The Approved Origin program served a purpose to the state's alfalfa producers during a period before improved varieties were released and produced in a true certification program. When improved varieties began to appear and gained popularity, the Approved Origin program was dropped.   

There will be a check representing the Oklahoma Commons in most of the research and extension plots put out by OSU. Normally we use OK08 because there is a supply of seed in the state.   

Several of the alfalfa strains developed in our breeding program trace back to the "old" commons. A new release from O.S.U., OK 49 for example, traces its parentage to the commons. We selected plants for disease and insect resistance while maintaining the common "type". Due to the improved disease resistance, it is more productive and persistent than the original commons, and it is better able to withstand aphids than the original commons. For other traits, OK 49 is similar to the commons.   

It is very risky to buy "common seed" without knowing --   
  

• Who produced the seed?   
• What variety was originally planted in the seed production field?   
• How many generations have gone by since certified seed?   

Even the "variety not stated" or common types that trace to an improved variety may not be good. A variety loses much of its genetic advantage when grown for several generations after the certified class of seed. It crosses with other alfalfa varieties grown nearby, seed mixtures occur, and vigor is lost due to inbreeding when related plants cross during several seed crops.   

 Results of Recent Alfalfa Variety Tests