White clover is a widely used component in pastures around the world. There are a number of reasons why farmers include white clover in their pastures.

The first reason is the palatability of white clover. Palatability is very important in order to maximize dry matter intake. White clover is very palatable because of a high leave/stem ratio. The second reason for planting white clover is its summer production. When most grasses go dormant in the warmest periods of the year, the clover continues to produce high quality forage. The third reason is also a very interesting quality: White clover has high nutritional values. It contains high levels of protein, ADF, Magnesium and Calcium.

However, the most important reason for including white clover in a pasture is its Nitrogen fixation. Most people know white clover is capable of fixing Nitrogen. However, not many people realize that there are significant differences between varieties. Through breeding, seed companies have enhanced Nitrogen fixation capacities of clover. Alice White clover is a perfect example of an improved variety.

A farmer in the Midwest accidentally proved the value of Alice White clover. This is what happened: the farmer planted a grass mixture last fall. Because he didn't want to use Nitrogen fertilizer, he decided to broadcast Alice White clover in his pasture as well. He used an electric hopper seeder to plant the seed. While planting, he thought the hopper seeder would spread 40 feet wide. However, it only spread 25 feet wide; so after the seed established, his pasture had strips with Alice White clover and strips without Alice White clover.

The picture shows what happened afterwards. The strips with Alice White clover show tremendous grass production. On the other hand, the strips without the clover show poor production of the grass. The estimated grass production at the strips with the clover is the same as grass fertilized with 200 pounds (annually) of Nitrogen. Another remarkable fact is noticed by the farmer: The strips without the Alice do have some spots with volunteer white clover. Amongst those spots, the grass does not show increased production. This proves the point that improved varieties like Alice fix much more Nitrogen than the traditional white clovers.

More information of Alice White clover is available through
Barenbrug USA
Phone: =+1 (800) 547 41 01
E-mail: info@barusa.com 

By John Thyssen, Barenbrug USA

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