The effect of variety and fertilizer nitrogen level on red clover production

Abstract

Established swards of two diploid and two tetraploid red clover varieties sown pure received 0, 75, 150, 225 or 300 kg ha⁻¹ N fertilizer and were cut three times in June, August and October 1971. The total yields of herbage DM for red clover varieties ranged from 8.01 to 11.32 t ha⁻¹; swards sown with tetraploids Hungaropoly and Hera Pajbjerg were superior by 25% in DM yield and 23% in CP yield. The red clover contribution to these total yields of DM ranged from 6.05 to 10.69 t ha⁻¹; tetraploid clovers outyielded diploids by 42% in DM yield and 39% in CP yield.The mean effect of N level on yield and on compositional attributes was slight. Total yields of herbage DM, averaged over all varieties, ranged from 9.50 to 10.22 t ha⁻¹ and of total herbage CP from 1.76 to 1.91 t ha⁻¹. The influence of N level on the red clover contribution was negligible. DM yields ranged from 8.54 to 8.72 t ha⁻¹ and CP yields from 1.60 to 1.64 t ha⁻¹.Superiority of tetraploid clovers over diploids was again confirmed. Red clover swards sown pure can give high yields without the application of fertilizer N.