BACKGROUND AND AIMS White clover (Trifolium repens) is, due to nitrogen (N) fixation, important to the N dynamics of several northern temperate agroecosystems. This study aimed at monitoring growth and death of major white clover plant organs to assess their potential contribution to within-season N input and risk of off-season N losses. METHODS White clover ('Snowy') was studied in a plot an...

Organic dairy farmers often introduce alternative pasture species, such as chicory (Cichorium intybus) and narrow-leaved plantain (Plantago lanceolata), to their swards because of their higher mineral contents, yet they are concerned about the presence of weed species such as docks (Rumex spp.) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). The mineral content and nutritive value of both desired and les...

A method has been developed to prepare fresh forages for in sacco and in vitro incubation by freezing and mincing to achieve a particle size distribution of dry matter (DM) similar to in vivo conditions. The method is described and data presented to indicate losses of nitrogen (N) during in sacco digestion and net yield of ammonia from proteolysis in vitro for 22 fresh and conserved forages. Gr...

Ten cultivars and 13 germplasms of white clover (Trifolium repens) were evaluated in the greenhouse for resistance to the southern root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita race 4. One hundred plants of each cultivar or germplasm were rated for percentage of the root system galled (PRSG) at 60 days after inoculation with root-knot nematode eggs. Tillman (9%) and SRVR (19%) had the highest perce...

Increasing plant diversity in the perennial phase of pasture-crop rotations is predicted to positively affect belowground productivity and microbial communities and, turn, augment agroecosystem services including soil health carbon storage. Using two grass one legume forage species grown as monocultures combined four intercropped combinations, we evaluated how identity richness influence produc...

Fothergill et al., 1997; Wachendorf et al., 2001a). Research in the northeastern USA, however, indicated that White clover (Trifolium repens L.) persists in pastures mainly by white clover may not follow this pattern in a colder stolon growth. Morphologically complex (i.e., highly branched stolons) plants of white clover generally persist longer. We hypothesized climate. White clover plants in ...