Jamshedi, A.

Janssen, K.

Moyer, Joseph L.

Posler, Gerry L.

K-State Research Exchange

September 1985Performance Testsof Birdsfoot Trefoilin Eastern KansasG.L. Posler, Forage Utilization AgronomistJ.L. Moyer, Forage Agronomist, SEKA. Jamshedi, Former Research AssistantK. Janssen, Supt., EC Kansas Experiment FieldBirdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) is a widelyadapted, nonbloating, forage legume that has excellentpotential for improving quality of cool-season pasturegrasses in eastern Kansas. In other studies, the variety‘Dawn’ has shown promise. These trials were estab-lished to evaluate the yield potential and persistence ofseveral birdsfoot trefoil varieties in eastern Kansas.VarietiesThe varieties included in the tests were developedby universities over a period of years, or are introduc-tions from Europe. Early varieties were classed as pas-ture (prostrate) or hay (upright) types, but varieties de-veloped later are more intermediate in growth habit.Carroll is a very winter-hardy, pasture type, whichis more upright and slightly earlier in maturity than Em-pire. It was developed in Iowa for improved persistenceand larger seed size and is marketed by Peterson SeedCompany as a proprietary variety.Dawn is a four-clone synthetic, developed in Mis-souri. It is slightly more erect and earlier flowering thanEmpire. It was selected for resistance to root rots andleaf and stem diseases, which provide greater persis-tence. Dawn is marketed by Nickerson American PlantBreeders as a proprietary variety.Empire is a prostrate, late-maturing ecotype se-lected in Albany County, NY from introduced Euro-pean types. It is very winter-hardy and persists well be-cause of its ability to reseed and establish new plants.Fargo is a naturalized, experimental strain of theEmpire type developed in North Dakota.Fergus is a naturalized, semi-prostrate strain devel-oped from plants of Empire in a 15-year-old Kentuckypasture and imported French germ plasm.Leo was developed in Quebec, Canada from aRussian introduction. It has excellent early spring vigorand is more winter-hardy than Empire or Viking.Missouri 20 is a third-cycle selection from thebreeding program that earlier released the varietyDawn. This strain was further selected for greater sur-vival under severe defoliation managements and wasreleased as a germ plasm source for plant breeders.NC-83 Germplasm Pool is an experimental strainformed from 30 clones evaluated in North Central re-gional trials. It was released as a germ plasm source forplant breeders.Norcen is a new synthetic variety developed fromnine clones selected from breeding programs of the IL,IA, and MO stations. The name refers to the coopera-tion among the North Central states and the wide adap-tation of Norcen in the region.T-68 is an experimental line selected from Vikingby researchers in New York state for resistance to theherbicide, 2,4-D.Viking is a European, erect, broad-leaved varietydeveloped in New York state from Danish and NewYork strains. It has more rapid seedling growth andfaster recovery from cutting than Empire.ProceduresTen varieties were seeded at Ottawa, April 20,1979 at 7 pounds PLS per acre. The plots were fertil-ized with 150 pounds per acre of 8-32-16, and Balan(3.5 quarts/acre) was incorporated for weed controlprior to planting. Plots were harvested for yield at earlyto mid-bloom stage. Harvest dates were July 3 and Oc-tober 6, 1979; May 28, 1980; June 9 and August 4,1981; May 29, August 5, and September 29, 1982;May 27 and July 19, 1983; and June 19 and July 27,1984.Nine varieties were seeded at Mound Valley, April23, 1980 at 8 pounds per acre, following incorporationof 3.75 pints/acre of Eptam. Plots were fertilized with50 lbs. P20 5 and 100 lbs. K20 per acre in 1982 and1984. Plots were not harvested during the establish-ment year because growth was quite limited by a verydry growing season. Plots were harvested June 5 andAugust 7, 1981; June 21, 1982; June 28, 1983; May22 and July 10, 1984; and May 22 and June 26, 1985.Table 1. Forage yields of birdsfoot trefoil varieties, Ottawa, 1979-1984.Dry Matter (Tons/Acre)Variety 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 TotalNorcen 1.87 1.91 3.51 4.40 2.49 2.12 16.28NC-83 pool 1.74 1.94 3.77 4.48 2.55 1.75 16.23Missouri-20 1.20 1.79 4.04 4.38 2.36 2.14 15.89Fergus 1.44 1.80 3.64 4.51 2.42 2.07 15.87Dawn 1.69 2.02 4.01 4.02 2.28 1.74 15.77Leo 1.76 1.88 3.35Viking4.15 2.51 1.57 15.201.66 2.07 3.35 3.98 2.72 0.96 14.74Empire 1.23 1.86 3.49 3.54 1.94 1.48 13.53Fargo 0.94 1.53 3.27 3.47 1.96 1.49 12.63T-68 1.52 1.93 2.53 3.48 2.41 0.67 12.48Mean 1.51 1.87 3.50 4.04 2.36 1.55 14.61L S D.05 0.30 0.20 0.64 0.25 0.30 0.52 1.22Results: OttawaExcellent stands were obtained for all varieties ex-cept Fargo. Performance of varieties seeded at Ottawa isshown in Table 1. Visual observations in 1982 indicatedthat Viking, T-68, and Leo were late in maturity; Dawn,Empire, MO-20, Fargo, NC-83 Pool, and Fergus wereearly; and Norcen was intermediate. Weed invasionwas greatest in Empire, Fargo, and Dawn, with littlenoted in the other entries. Visual stand ratings in Octo-ber, 1983 showed MO-20, Norcen, Fergus, and NC-83Pool with best stands; T-68 and Viking, poorest; andDawn, Leo, Fargo, and Empire, intermediate. By thesummer of 1984, stand loss was so great that harvestwas not possible for T-68. Some plots of Empire, Fargo,and Viking also had too many weeds to allow harvest.Forage yields were good during the seedling yearand most varieties remained productive throughout the6 years of the trial. Yields were low in 1980 because lim-ited rainfall allowed only one harvest. An average oftwo harvests per year was obtained, which was aboutone cut less than for adjacent alfalfa varieties. Slower re-growth of trefoil usually results in fewer cuttings andabout 80% as much yield as alfalfa.Based on total yield for the 1979-84 period, thetop-yielding varieties were Norcen, NC-83 Pool, Mis-souri 20, Fergus, Dawn, and Leo; whereas the lowest-yielding group included Empire, Fargo, and T-68. Forthe period 1979-83, Viking was also in the top-yieldinggroup, but it declined considerably in 1984. After 1982,Dawn and Viking declined in yield relative to the othersin the top group, probably because their stands began tothin. Mean yield for the best variety, Norcen, for the 6years was 2.71 tons/acre and the test average was 2.43tons/acre. Yields of over 4 tons/acre in 1982 show thatbirdsfoot trefoil has excellent potential.Crude protein data are shown in Table 2. VarietiesTable 2. Crude protein contents (%) of birdsfoot trefoil varieties, Ottawa, 1979-1984.1979 1981 1982 1983 1984Variety Cut 1 Cut 2 Cut 1 Cut 2 Cut 1 Cut 2 Cut 3 Cut 1 Cut 2 Cut 1 Cut 2NorcenNC-83 PoolMissouri-20FergusDawnLeoVikingEmpireFargoT-6817.2 14.715.4 13.517.1 12.617.1 11.917.2 13.918.5 13.916.9 13.217.1 13.218.9 13.916.4 13.821.0 15.319.5 15.019.1 14.519.6 13.619.0 14.622.3 14.819.7 14.518.3 15.220.0 14.319.2 15.115.5 15.2 18.414.7 16.3 19.615.2 16.4 17.815.2 15.1 18.014.7 16.5 18.015.6 15.4 19.115.1 13.8 16.614.6 15.6 16.114.7 16.3 16.816.1 13.3 17.116.0 14.215.9 12.915.3 13.815.3 12.415.8 13.616.1 13.615.0 11.716.3 13.616.7 13.815.9 12.215.3 16.215.4 15.915.0 15.313.5 14.415.0 16.716.5 16.113.5 13.514.9 14.215.4 15.710.2 –Mean 17.1 13.5 19.8 14.7 15.2 15.4 17.7 15.8 13.2 14.0 15.3L S D.05 NS 1.3 1.5 NS NS 1.0 2.0 NS 1.2 1.1 1.5Table 3. Performance of birdsfoot trefoil varieties, Mound Valley, 1981-1985.Forage Yield (Tons/Acre @ 12% moisture) Stand Rating *Variety 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Total June 18, 1984Fergus 4.18 4.09 3.72 4.83 4.23 21.11 4.6NC-83 Pool 4.02 3.60 3.73 4.88 4.53 20.76 4.0Missouri-20 4.27 4.05 3.54 4.71 4.05 20.61 4.4Dawn 4.02 4.22 3.98 4.39 3.78 20.39 2.6Viking 3.92 3.93 3.53 4.85 4.11 20.33 2.8Norcen 3.69 3.66 3.60 4.79 4.39 20.12 3.7Empire 4.23 4.27 3.42 4.07 3.78 19.78 2.4Carroll 3.74 3.84 3.23 4.73 4.16 19.70 3.4Leo 3.74 3.73 3.29 4.51 3.99 19.25 3.6Mean 3.98 3.93 3.56 4.64 4.11 20.23 3.5L S D.05 NS 0.38 NS 0.47 NS NS 0.8*O = None; 5 = Excellentgenerally had quite good protein contents. More differ-ences occurred among varieties in the second cut, prob-ably because weeds were present in plots of varietieswith poorer stands. Because of its leafiness and smallstem diameter, protein quality of birdsfoot trefoil is usu-ally very good.Results: Mound ValleyPerformance of varieties seeded at Mound Valley isshown in Table 3. Forage yields for the first 3 years gen-erally were not indicative of overall performance duringthe 5-year test. Dawn had the highest total 1981-83yield, but had relatively poor 1984 and 1985 produc-tion, and one of the poorest stands in 1984. Empire wasalso in the top-yielding group for 1981-83, but declinedin stand and relative yield.Conversely, Norcen was in the low-yielding 1981-83 group, producing significantly less forage than Em-pire each of the first 2 years (Table 3). However, Norcenretained a good stand and produced relatively higheryields in 1984 and 1985. NC-83 Pool was an averageproducer during 1981-83, but had a higher 1984 standrating and was the highest yielder in 1984 and 1985,producing significantly more forage than Empire orDawn.The most consistent varieties for 1981-83 produc-tion, 1984 stand rating, and total 5-year productionwere Fergus and MO-20. Fergus produced significantlymore forage in 5 years than did Leo, a consistently poorperformer, and its stand 4 years after seeding was ratedsignificantly better than all varieties except MO-20 andNC-83 Pool. In general, relative performance of vari-eties at Mound Valley was similar to that at Ottawa, ex-cept that Norcen ranked lower.ConclusionsThese tests indicate that several birdsfoot trefoil va-rieties have excellent yield potential in eastern Kansas.Compared to alfalfa, trefoil regrows more slowly, result-ing in less total yield and fewer harvests. Since it hasbeen shown to persist better under grazing conditionsthan under the less frequent, but more severe, hay-cutting management, and because it is a nonbloatinglegume, birdsfoot trefoil could be very advantageous forimproving cool-season pastures in eastern Kansas.AcknowledgementsThe authors acknowledge the assistance of N.S. Hill,R.J. Stephenson, and J. McLaughlin with laboratory analysesand data collection and analysis.Contribution 86-71-S, Department of Agronomyand Southeast Kansas Branch StationAgricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan 66506Keeping Up With Research 86 September 1985Publications and public meetings by the KansasAgricultural Experiment Station are available andopen to the public regardless of race, color, na-tional origin, sex, or handicap. 9-85–3M

Performance tests of birdsfoot trefoil in eastern Kansas

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Performance tests of birdsfoot trefoil in eastern Kansas

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