Evaluation location: New York, United States
The field nursery was established in June 1998, and plant roots were evaluated in late July/early August 2000. The field nursery was near Watertown, New York. Approximately 120 seeds of each accession were started in flats in the greenhouse in April 1998. Other experimental alfalfa entries and one birdsfoot trefoil entry were included in the study as well. When the plants were approximately 7-8 wks. old, they were transplanted (22, 23 June 1998) to a field site in northern New York, with up to 16 plants per entry row, and 9.5" between plants; three replicates of each entry were established. Plants were cut according to the cooperating farmer's schedule, and were maintained in the field until 2000. In the spring of 2000, we took plant counts in every entry row for establishing a baseline plant population prior to oviposition on the plants. A natural, high-density population of adult alfalfa snout beetle migrated into the field in the spring of 2000. In late July of 2000, we found consistent distribution of larvae and evidence of larval root feeding throughout the nursery, and we then evaluated every plant in the nursery for damage, using the 1-5 scale.