LEAFLET 65
WARRIOR-
A Bruchid-Resistant Vetch
t. D. DONNELLY, Plant Breeder'
S!DNEY B. HAYS, Ast. in Entomology'
T ill. \ 1 ( IuI 110(liu i) or \ cl XX ccx il.
551) (i doe(s extenive\ ( (illigt to slistcep
tile var ieties, has Illt its illatch ll it
1(55v eit'il1it S iliet\s
ilix cisitv Agiri culturial Expeimen(1t Stit
( Jriwliis Iraiali5 Fahr. ).
seedi of susceptib~le 5 10 ieties. Seed that
iappear to) be of high qifllitxv at hillS est
of thle hi 111id effect il seed ael n il
tillii. Visiile (Iliiiiiie ti) the( seed i 101 it
Ipirfor sexverl ivxecks after 1harv5est
xxci leu u iiids emerge f ront the( seed.
leaxving il cmelptv seed colats, Fi'gure 1.
11111101fo Iiiiliv Vel,,. Its kUse ihas il ieii
illitflilk flol greell rriiiir1e, butt it 1has, been
Ic
1
Oxx ii to( a liiltedi exten t foi- r irazilI.
la~nt Breed inlig Ulit respectis rh.
I liii~.
that \ etchi is a l poisilisig gi ailig crop)
creasc ill tiht stillu \ Itch \ ill prblId
jlg (tell 1h15 1a511 hteeli sed 115 at sced
0"I
FIG. 1.Typical bruchid damage to hairy
vetch seed (top row) as compared with sound
seed of the resistant Warrior variety (bot-
tom row). Bruchid or vetch weevil is shown
in center.
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
E. V. Smith, Director AUBURN UNIVERSITY Auburn, Alabama
MAY 1961
anld 212. Iiillili plolils ofi Xec 1111 51
XXer I'l' )1 111 11 ill tile Stitt(,c h 111 5 '
stel v to ll'X till lle11'1hillIllli llin
pond o N5's
FIG. 2. The chart shows pounds of v"Tch
seed produced in Alabama, 1940-1958,
based on county agents' reports.
this dlhlifl. I ll' ,iluit ofI thills ec is117 1
it ('CX i.l] a)11lmost lacki ch ik IC1111 O 
1 
l
i11-' ll 1'1il5 15 lol~, sil l Ililw tl peali
Iti Xill 11 11111 ii of 1 tpil l'B\ t~ Il ili 112
iltelldlilli~le petX t r this pt od~~ il l l (I-
solitill.
llt suilts 1111)i'll IX studties' Ill ibril idl
1'l-'isttlllll Iof X Itcl sllowXX I'l \\ XX e 111' 11114
itXti. XIlloa 1,1. II)ill toill he lli\ilit
XIll'std I \ I I Il tils i 11).ltlid I'II 511 1171111
sillr 151111 c II t o15 X ill'i in i 1111 of111 IIIit1111'
1117l \ ctc (V111 111 X 'l' llillica I'S s liii 111111
rs a ;It t1 is slXX 11 ti i lil 1951 and ill
ofIi 5 ri \\ er ii1ll ll f 2 ~ dlt(
sods ill' I iillie cil9sNi tilztSa XItI is41
tC (11 1 1 ill 11th ' s lihl1 tX I' S I X f ((' lls t-11
1711 il k', Ill t I'll partl of 5 5111 1 Iatc ll till-'
hI' Xls 115111.~ ii I'p' Illuc lcltX X Iol'ir 1(1s
iit.'t 4Wi11th te~l' ecpion of oilcyll l a
FIG. 3. Warrior vetch grown for seed in
cotton stalks on the Main Station is shown
above. Photo shows growth in May 1957.
N'
harvest. This was done by counting 1,000
seed of each variety from each replica-
tion, inspecting each seed, and counting
the number of seed from which a weevil
had emerged, Figure 1.
RESULTS
Results of these experiments show that
Warrior is resistant to the vetch bruchid,
Table 1. In experiments over a three-
year period at Alexandria Experiment
Field, an average of 50.1 per cent of
hairy vetch seed was infested. There was
no infestation of Warrior seed. At the
Plant Breeding Unit, Tallassee, and the,
Prattville Experiment Field, no Warrior
seed were infested and 45.0 and 48.6
per cent of the hairy seed were infested,
respectively. No Warrior seed were found
infested in other experiments conducted
at this Station. When Warrior is grown
in a field where there are plants of hairy
vetch, the vetch weevil may emerge
from seed of hairy in the mixture.
Warrior has produced higher yields
of seed than hairy at four locations, Ta-
ble 2. At Auburn, Tallassee, and Pratt-
ville (central Alabama) Warrior pro-
duced 1,009, 1,189, and 1,432 pounds
of seed per acre, respectively, as com-
pared with 195, 403, and 504 pounds of
hairy vetch seed. At Alexandria (north-
ern Alabama) Warrior averaged in a 3-
year period 558 pounds of seed per acre
and hairy averaged 387. During this
period seed yields of Warrior ranged
from 144 to 1,003 pounds per acre. These
results show Warrior is not as well
adapted for seed production in northern
Alabama as it is in central Alabama.
TABLE 1. PERCENTAGE OF BRUCHID-INFESTED
SEED FROM Two VETCH VARIETIES
Location
Alexandria-
Tallassee
2
Prattville
2
---
Percentage of
infested seed
Warrior Hairy
Pct. Pct.
0.0 50.1
0.0 45.0
0.0 48.6
Northern Alabama, 8-year average.
2 Central Alabama, 1-year.
TABLE 2. YIELD OF SEED PER ACRE PRo-
DUCED BY Two VETCH VARIETIES
Location
Alexandria
Auburn
2
Tallassee-
Prattville
4
Yield of seed
per acre
Warrior Hairy
Lb.
558
1,009
1,139
1,432
Lb.
387
195
403
504
1 Northern Alabama, 3-year average.
2 Central Alabama, 2-year average.
'Central Alabama, 1-year.
Central 
Alabama, 
2-year 
average.
SUMMARY
Warrior, a new variety of vetch devel-
oped at the Auburn University Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, was compared
with hairy vetch to determine relative
seed yields and resistance to the vetch
bruchid. Results show that Warrior is
resistant to the bruchid and that hairy
is susceptible.
Warrior produced good seed yields
each year in central Alabama, whereas,
yields varied from poor to good during
3 years of testing at one location in
northern Alabama. In all tests Warrior
produced higher yields of seed than
hairy vetch.
LITERATURE CITED
(1) BLAKE, GEORGE H., JR. AND EDEN,
W. G. Control of Vetch Bruchid in
Alabama. Auburn Univ. Agr. Expt.
Sta. Leaflet No. 86. 1958.
(2) DONNELLY, E. D. AND LANGFORD,
W. R. Warrior Vetch - A 
New Va-
riety for Alabama. Auburn Univ.
Agr. Expt. Sta. Leaflet No. 62. 1959.
(3) HOVELAND, C. S., ANTHONY, W. B.,
AND MAYTON, E. L. Coastal-Vetch-
Crimson Good for Cows and Calves.
Highlights of Agr. Res. Auburn Univ.
Agr. Expt. Sta. Vol. 7, No. 3. 1960.
(4) PINCKNEY, J. S. AND STITT, R. E.
Tests of Species and Varieties of
Vetch for Resistance to the Vetch
Bruchid. U.S. Dept. of Agr. Circular
No. 617, 1941.
1st Printing 3M, May 1961
2nd Printing 3M, September 1961