Initial red clover (Trifolium pratense, L.) variety evaluation for soil fertility-building

Nitrogen fixation by legume crops within arable rotations can build soil-fertility, produce a home-grown, highprotein fodder and provide a suite of ecosystem services. Although red clover (Trifolium pratense, L.) is primarly associated with grassland livestock production in the UK, it can also improve the performance of subsequent crops when grown alone or in monoculture (Doel 2013, Moyo 2015). Appropriate variety and foliage management selection could optimize this improvement. The goal of this project is to evaluate six red clover varieties, under treatments of one and two cuts, for fertility-building capacity. The yield and quality of subsequent bioassay crops will be used to assess this capacity