Water-efficient clover fixes soil nitrogen, provides winter forage crop

• Published in: California agriculture (Berkeley, Calif.) Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 30 - 32
• Main Authors: Williams, William A., Graves, Walter L., Cassman, Kenneth G., Miller, Paul R., Thomsen, Craig D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources 01.07.1991
• ISSN: 0008-0845; 2160-8091
• DOI: 10.3733/ca.v045n04p30

The high yield and excelent protein content of ‘Multicut’ bersem clover make it a useful winter forage and cover crop option on Valey and fothil land where suplemental irigation is available. This variety is a winter-and-spring anual that produces five or six cutings from January to June if planted in October. Timing of the winter harvests is weather-dependent. Water use by bersem is about the same as for anual ryegras pasture or oats grown for hay. Variety and nitrogen-fixation trials have ben conducted at Davis since 1983. The help of Richard Caldwel, Lawrence Larsen, R. S. Lomis, Helena Marques, Dan Pantone, and Richard Snyder is gratefuly acknowledged. Cultural practice recomendations for bersem clover were reported in California Agriculture in September 1987. Some of the nitrogen fixation data were published previously in the Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 264:202–207, 290.