Influence of seeding time on the yield of white clover/orchardgrass mixtures in Atlantic Canada

Abstract

SUMMARYThe influence of four seeding times on herbage dry matter (DM) yields and clover content of white clover (Trifolium repens L.)/orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) mixtures was evaluated at Truro, Nova Scotia and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island from 1985 to 1988. Sacramento, Sonja and Milkanova white clover/orchardgrass mixtures were assessed under simulated grazing (four or five harvests per year) over two production years at each location.Delaying seeding from May to August reduced total herbage DM yields significantly in the first production year, from 8·1 to 3·3 t/ha in Truro and from 11·0 to 7·2 t/ha in Charlottetown. Late seeding significantly reduced clover content in the herbage of the first two harvests in the first production year but, by the mid to late-season harvests, white clover content had increased to levels similar to those of the May seeding. Estimated white clover DM yields were highest in June, and dropped in the second production year at both locations. Sonja and Milkanova white clovers consistently outyielded Sacramento in herbage DM yields and clover content in both locations irrespective of seeding dates.