Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:32:04.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of white clover and fertilizer nitrogen on herbage production and chemical composition and soil water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. Wilman  and
P. A. Hollington
D. Wilman
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23 3DD
P. A. Hollington
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23 3DD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Effects of seven levels of N application and three seeds mixtures were studied on two sites for 4 years. One seeds mixture comprised perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and two comprised perennial ryegrass with white clover (Trifolium repens L.). One site (Trefloyne) was 24 m above sea level on deep soil and the other (Pwllpeiran) was 328 m above sea level on relatively shallow soil. The plots were cut seven times per year.

White clover grew very strongly at Trefloyne in the first 2 years, fixing 350 kg N/ha/year where no N was applied; the clover declined very markedly during the 3rd year and there was very little in the sward in the 4th year; quite large quantities of clover were harvested in the 1st year even where 600 kg N/ha were applied. At Pwllpeiran the yields of clover were never high, but the clover persisted well where no N was applied. At Trefloyne the indirect contribution of the clover (in increasing the yield of grass) was greater in the first than in the second half of the year; clover was later than grass to grow strongly in the spring, but the extra grass growth compensated for this, so that the seasonal distribution of total herbage yield was similar on a grass-clover sward receiving no fertilizer N to that on a grass sward receiving six applications of N per year. At Pwllpeiran, on the other hand, the indirect contribution of the clover tended to be greater in the second than in the first half of the year where no N was applied.

The olover was similar to grass in phosphorus and potassium content and higher than grass in calcium and nitrogen. The clover was higher in nitrate-N content than grass grown without clover, at low levels of applied N, and increased the nitrate-N content of the grass growing with it.

Water consumption at Trefloyne was greatest on swards which contained olover and on the swards without clover which received at least 400 kg N/ha/year. The effect of clover on soil water was apparent particularly in the lower horizons of the soil.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 104 , Issue 2 , April 1985 , pp. 453 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1980). The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock. Technical review by an Agricultural Research Council Working Party. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Behaeghe, T. J. & Carlier, L. A. (1974). Influence of nitrogen levels on quality and yield of herbage under mowing and grazing conditions. Proceedings of the 5th Oeneral Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Uppsala, 1973. Main papers. Växtodling 28, 52–66.Google Scholar
Briseño de la Hoz, V. M. & Wilman, D. (1981). Effects of cattle grazing, sheep grazing, cutting and sward height on a grass-white clover sward. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 97, 699–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, V. (1975). Estimating clover content in grass/clover samples. Plant Sciences and Crop Husbandry Research Report 1975, An Foras Talúntais, Dublin, p. 38.Google Scholar
Cook, R., Plowright, R. A., Rushton, W. H. & Bowling, P. J. (1983). Effect of nematodes on white clover establishment and persistence. Report of Welsh Plant Breeding Station for 1982, pp. 67–69.Google Scholar
Cowling, D. W. (1982). Biological nitrogen fixation and grassland production in the United Kingdom. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, series B, 296, 397–404.Google Scholar
Faithfull, N. T. (1971). Automated simultaneous determination of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium on the same herbage digest solution. Laboratorys Practice 20, 41–44.Google Scholar
Follett, M. J. & Ratcliff, P. W. (1963). Determination of nitrite and nitrate in meat products. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 14, 138–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, T. J., Dibb, C., Green, J. O., Hopkins, A. & Peel, S. (1980). Factors affecting the productivity of permanent grassland. A national farm study. The Grassland Research Institute and Agricultural Development and Advisory Service Joint Permanent Pasture Group, Hurley, Berkshire.Google Scholar
Hollington, P. A. (1984). The nitrogen economy of perennial ryegrass/white clover swards on a lowland and an upland site. Ph.D. thesis, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.Google Scholar
Institute of Hydrology (1981). User's handbook for the Institute of Hydrology neutron probe system. Report no. 79, Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, Berkshire.Google Scholar
Kemp, A., Geurink, J. H., Malestein, A. & Van 'T Klooster, A. Th. (1978). Grassland production and nitrate poisoning in cattle. Proceedings of the 7th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Gent, Belgium, 1978, pp. 9.1–9.15.Google Scholar
Low, A. J. & Armitage, E. R. (1959). Irrigation of grassland. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 52, 256–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1967). Potential transpiration. Technical Bulletin 16. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1981). The Analysis of Agricultural Materials. 2nd edn. RB427. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Morrison, J. (1981). The potential of legumes for forage production. In Legumes and Fertilizers in Grassland Systems, papers presented at the British Grassland Society Winter Meeting 1981, pp. 1.1–1.10.Google Scholar
Morrison, J., Jackson, M. V. & Sparrow, P. E. (1980). The response of perennial ryegrass to fertilizer nitrogen in relation to climate and soil. Report of the joint ADAS/GRI grassland manuring trial-GM20. Technical Report no. 27. Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, Berkshire.Google Scholar
Munro, J. M. M. & Davies, D. A. (1974). Potential pasture production in the uplands of Wales. 5. The nitrogen contribution of white clover. Journal of the British Grassland Society 29, 213–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Institute of Agricultural Botany (1982–1983). Recommended varieties of grasses. Farmers Leaflet no. 16. Cambridge.Google Scholar
National Institute of Agricultural Botany (1983–1984). Recommended varieties of herbage legumes. Farmers Leaflet no. 4. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Reid, D. (1983). The combined use of fertilizer nitrogen and white clover as nitrogen sources for herbage growth. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 100, 613–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1970). Soils of North Cardiganshire. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1974). Soils in Dyfed. II. Soil Survey Record no. 24. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Spedding, C. R. W. & Diekmahns, E. C. (ed.) (1972). Grasses and legumes in British agriculture. Bulletin no. 49, Commonwealth Bureau of Pastures and Field Crops. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Thomson, D. J. (1984). The nutritive value of white clover. In Forage Legumes (ed. Thomson, D. J.), pp. 78–92. Occasional Symposium no 16, British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. C. (1970). The role of nitrogen in grassland productivity. Bulletin no. 48, Commonwealth Bureau of Pastures and Field Crops. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. C. (1982). Yield of white clover and its fixation of nitrogen as influenced by nutritional and soil factors under controlled environment conditions. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 33, 1227–1234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, W. (1970). White clover in British agriculture. In White Clover Research (ed. Lowe, J.), pp. 1–10. Occasional Symposium no. 6, British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Wilman, D. (1970). Direct and indirect contribution of nitrogen by white clover in a grass/clover sward. In White Clover Research (ed. Lowe, J.), pp. 233–237. Occasional Symposium no. 6, British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Wilman, D. (1977). The white clover contribution during the first 24 months after sowing. Journal of the British Grassland Society 32, 115–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar