Western Australia
March 19, 2008
Source:
GRDC's The Crop Doctor
A newly commercialised clover,
AGWEST Bartolo, chosen particularly for its hard seededness and
high seed productivity, will make pasture legumes a more
attractive option for Western Australian wheatbelt farmers.
A key to the ongoing success and accumulated benefits of pasture
legumes is their capacity to develop a persistent seed bank.
Seed banks can be severely diminished by overgrazing, unseasonal
rainfall, continuous cropping and weed control measures.
The main constraints to introducing pasture legumes in farming
systems are seed availability, establishment cost and
probability of success.
Germplasm for the new bladder clover was collected in Cyprus and
developed by the DAFWA Pasture Science group through the GRDC
supported National Annual Pasture Legume Improvement Program.
The project was supported by GRDC and AWI, with CLIMA hosting
and financially supporting the project. CSIRO Livestock
Industries assisted with a comprehensive grazing trial at
Northam.
Bladder clover is the new low cost annual pasture legume that’s
impressed farmers and seed producers with its consistently high
forage and seed production.
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Celebrating the launch of Bartolo (L to R): Brad
Nutt, DAFWA, Neil Young, GRDC Western Panel
Chairman, Kim Chance, WA Minister for Agriculture
and Food and Dr Angelo Loi, DAFWA. |
According to GRDC supported DAFWA Research Officer, Dr Angelo
Loi, Bartolo bladder clover can be successfully grown in mildly
acid to alkaline sandy-loam and loam soils and is best suited to
regions receiving 325-500mm rainfall. The clover was named after
his grandfather, Bartolo.
Seed yields above one tonne per hectare that can be direct
harvested by conventional grain harvesters makes Bartolo a lower
cost alternative to subterranean clover and annual medics in
many situations, Dr Loi said.
Bartolo has high levels of hard seed remaining at the end of
summer, suggesting that bladder clover can be used in
self-regenerating ley systems or short-term phase farming
systems.
It copes with unseasonal rainfall and provides long term legume
stability in pastures and is expected to be widely adopted
across many soil types and farming systems in WA’s wheatbelt, Dr
Loi said. |
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The Crop Doctor is
GRDC Managing Director,
Peter Reading |
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