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POTENTIAL PRODUCTIVITY OF RED CLOVER VARIETIES IN S.W. SCOTLAND
Author(s) -
Hunt I. V.,
Frame J.,
Harkess R. D.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1975.tb01378.x
Subject(s) - red clover , productivity , fertilizer , agronomy , livestock , biology , yield (engineering) , zoology , ecology , materials science , metallurgy , economics , macroeconomics
A reassessment of the potential productivity of 37 varieties of red eiover suggests that DM productivity is equivalent to grass given fertilizer N at 252 kg/ha for the 1st year, 209 kg/ha for 2nd year and 144 kg/ha for 3rd year of production. Corresponding equivalents for CP productivity of the red clover swards were 298, 228 and 206 kg N/ha. Varietal differences in productivity were significant Average yields of total herbage DM in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd harvesting years were 10.9, 8.7 and 8.2 t/ha, containing 6.5, 5.9 and 6.0 t/ha red clover, respectively. For two harvesting years, the most productive varieties were Essi, Kuhn, Hungaropoly, Robina, Tilo Daehnfeldt, Redhead and Corona Otofte. Rea 4N and a few other tetraploid varieties were very productive in the 3rd year. Hungaropoly, although showing a decline in the 3rd year, was the most productive over 3 years, with an average yield of 11.5 t/ha per year total herbage DM containing 10.2 t/ha per year red clover DM. Such high potential DM production warrants further investigation into the persistence of red clover, its conservation and the problems of its utilization by livestock.