Influence of clover species in mixtures with grasses on fatty acid composition of mixtures

Summary

White clover (WC, Trifolium repens L.) or red clover (RC, Trifolium pratense L.) was grown in mixture with grasses. Samples of the mixtures and pure clovers were taken during three cuts, and the fatty acids (FA) compositions were determined. The clover species had no significant effect on the individual FA contents of the leys (g kg-1 dry matter (DM)), nor on the total FA content. Pure clovers had lower content of all individual FA (8.2 vs. 12.4 g kg-1 DM) than mixtures; the contents of all FA decreased with increasing percentage of clover in the mixture, but the decrease was weaker for C18:3n-3 than for the other FA. Although pure WC and RC had similar FA contents, the relative proportions (percentage of total FA content) of C16:0 and C18:3n-3 differed; RC had a higher proportion of C18:3n-3 and a lower proportion of C16:0. These results are partly in contradiction with previously reported.