Production and persistency of red clover (Trifolium pratense) varieties when grown in mixtures

Summary

In the Netherlands organic and conventional dairy farmers are taking an increasing interest in grass and red clover mixtures for ley pastures (cutting only). A constraint to the adoption of such mixtures is the persistency of the red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) varieties presently used in the Netherlands; Rotra, Barfiola, Violetta and Merviot. The latter being the most persistent under practical circumstances. Testing of red clover varieties in Switzerland showed a high degree of persistency of the so-called ‘mattenklee’ varieties such as Astur and Pica (Suter et al., 2004). We compared eight red clover varieties including 2 ‘mattenklee’ varieties in mixtures with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.), and a mixture containing white clover and perennial ryegrass only.
Red clover mixtures out yielded the white clover mixtures by 5.4 t dry matter (DM) ha -1 . ULC 1715186 and Astur were the most productive red clover varieties. The development of the clover content of Astur showed that this variety scored highest on persistency.