 Welcome! My name is Lidian Silva and I'm a postdoctoral research fellow at the Animal Science Department at Auburn University. On this webinar, I'll be talking about resoma perennial peanuts. So let's start with a general overview. Resoma peanut is a perennial legume with high yields and nutritive value that it is originally from South America and is well adapted to the US good coast region. In the past, there has been some resistance to its adoption due to high costs and low rates of establishment. Currently, new technologies and varieties allowed its incorporation into forest systems. Resoma peanuts can be used for hay production or under grazing management. It is widely spread on warmer regions as for yourself due to climate conditions, especially in Florida. Floyd Graze was the first variety released in USA and it is still the most planted nowadays. Currently, the University of Florida has an ongoing resoma peanut culture selection program for ornamental and forage purposes. Resoma peanut goes dormant on fall, usually just after the first strong frost, which in the south USA might just happen in the middle of December or later, depending where you are located at. For example, these pictures were taken in early December in 2018 at Hague, Florida, which is in the central region of the States. Then, resoma peanuts regrowth on early spring depending on site conditions and temperature. There are several resoma peanuts varieties available or current under research. Generally, differences between varieties make them better suitable to a specific use. For example, here on the left, we have a picture of Chico and on the right, you have Chico varieties. You have Chico has taller and more upright canop, which favors hay harvest, while Chico has short and dense canop that should be more suitable to graze management. There are other characteristics that need to be addressed when selecting varieties to each purpose. So forage growth may be one of the criteria one may consider when choosing which variety to use. Moving on, let's understand better resoma peanuts requirements for establishments. Similarly to any other forage prior to planting, soil pH and fertility must be tested because it's crucial that lime and fertilizer application is done as recommended. Soil preparation is important, especially if areas that were previously planted to sod-based grasses, which leads us to the importance to also control previous vegetation well. The recommended practice is to use a non-selective herb site that will provide a cleaner seed bag to start with. There are limited options of herb sites that can be used on resoma peanuts stems, especially during establishment without risking damaging it. If needed, during establishment, mechanical control by mowing is a good option to control broadleaf weed infestation, but it's important to mow above the resoma peanut canop high to avoid damage on the canop. Resoma peanut is established by vegetative propagation using resomes. Resomes are energy storage structures for the plant. Resomes with this structure provide energy to grow new shoots during establishment. All nurseries that provide planting material sends their lives to without cutting for at least a growing season to allow plants to accumulate reserves aiming fast to have enough storage to provide fast establishment. Usually, for planting material, resomes should be thick and healthy, and this is also observed in well-managed resoma peanut patches as the figure shows here. And planting rate is 880 bushes of planting material per acre. So now let's talk about forest production. In monoculture, forest yield of resoma peanuts ranges from 7,400 to 12,200 pounds per acre per year, with the adjustability ranging from 6 to 8 to 72% and crude protein from 15 to 18%. These parameters reflect in improved animal performance in previous studies have showed average daily gain from 1.3 to 2.1 pounds per day per head. On this graph, I'm showing the forest yield variation among six cultivars that were managed under hay production with two cuts per year. These numbers are average of two summer seasons and more part of my PhD work. So since resoma peanut is a legume, it is able to fix nitrogen biologically, which produces the need for nitrogen fertilizer input into the forest system. Resoma peanuts can fix up to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre, depending on the management used. This input of nitrogen promotes greater nutritive value reflecting in animal performance and higher nutrient return to pastures, which also increase forest accumulation and quality. But in order to benefit from resoma peanut pastures, it is important to know adequate management strategies to apply. Under grazing management, the general recommendation for continuous grazing is to allow 4 inches stable hay. However, this requires close management to guarantee external longevity. Under rotational grazing, one should apply interval of growth between 5 to 6 weeks and stable hay is also 4 inches. Resoma peanut is competitive with warm season grasses as Bermuda grass and Bahia grass and can be planted as mixed systems with them. This helps to improve diet quality for animals under grazing. Besides, resoma peanut stands can be over seeded with coaxies and species on fall using a no-chill drill, which helps to extend the grazing season and provide high-quality feed during winter. Because resoma peanuts can compete well with grasses, a common practice is to use a strip planting method. To establish mixed stands of resoma peanuts and Bahia grass or Bermuda grass. As you can see on the top right picture, grass strips are either harvested or killed using herbicide for them plant resoma peanuts there. This method helps to decrease establishment costs because resoma peanuts can spread well horizontally and mix with the rest of the stand with time. Major advantage on this mixed system is that it increases biodiversity and nutrients return to pasture because of the higher quality diet. This increase on nutrient return also improves forage accumulation, especially on low-input systems. So in summary, resoma peanuts is a perennial legion with high nutritive value reflecting in greater animal performance. Resoma peanuts can be used under hay production or grazing management and planted into mixtures with grasses. Resoma peanuts improves nutrient cycling and sustainability of forage systems because it is able to fix nitrogen through biological fixation and increases biodiversity. Lastly, proper establishment and management favors long stand persistence, which justifies initial high costs. I hope you have enjoyed this webinar and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate and get in touch with me.