Nitrogen uptake by spring barley grown with red and white clover

Summary

A field experiment was undertaken to measure the uptake by spring barley of nitrogen at different distances from a boundary with either red or white clover. Clover plants at the boundary with the barley were labelled with a foliar 15N application. Its distance from the clover boundary did not signifi-cantly affect nitrogen uptake by the barley. However measurements of the isotopic label showed a transfer of 2.5% of the N from the red clover and 1% of the N from the white clover to the barley over short dis-tances. The study has indicated that transfer of N between clover and cereals is spatially limited and at least within the first year, it is unlikely to provide agronomically significant supplies of N