Search results for "berseem clover"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Plant arrangement effects on dry matter production and nitrogen fixation of berseem clover-annual reygrass mixture.
2005
Scorpiurus muricatus L.: an interesting legume species for Mediterranean forage systems
2017
Scorpiurus muricatus L. (prickly scorpion’s tail) is a legume species widely distributed as a spontaneous plant in Mediterranean pastures. In Sicily, farmers ascribe to this species a very high palatability and galactogogue effect, so that its abundance increases the value of the pasture. However, despite its worthy traits, the use of S. muricatus as a forage within cropping systems has not been well investigated. A field experiment was performed during two growing seasons in a semiarid Mediterranean environment to acquire information on the productivity of S. muricatus in comparison with other forage species grown in Mediterranean areas (e.g. berseem clover, burr medic, subterranean clover…
Weed seedbank size and composition in a long-term tillage and crop sequence experiment
2015
Summary Knowledge of the effects of agricultural practices on weed seedbank dynamics is essential for predicting future problems in weed management. This article reports data relative to weed seedbank structure after 18 years of continuous application of conventional tillage (CT, based on mouldboard ploughing) or no tillage (NT) within three crop sequences (continuous wheat, WW; wheat–faba bean, WF; and wheat–berseem clover, WB). Tillage system did not affect the size of the total weed seedbank, but altered both its composition and the distribution of seeds within the soil profile. In particular, the adoption of CT favoured some species (mainly Polygonum aviculare), whereas the continuous u…
Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis on growth and N2 fixation of Trifolium alexandrinum under late drought stress conditions.
2010
Several experiments, mostly carried out under controlled conditions, have shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis enhances nutrient uptake and improves drought tolerance of host plants. The present research, carried out in a typical Mediterranean environment, evaluated the effect of AM symbiosis on berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) grown in the field under both late drought stress and well-watered conditions. The crop was subjected to repeated defoliation. N2 fixation was estimated using the 15N dilution method and using ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum var. Westervoldicum) as the reference crop. In late drought conditions, AM symbiosis resulted in a significant increase in bi…
Cut and post-cut herbage management affects berseem clover seed yield.
2013
The seed yield of berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) is usually obtained from regrowth after forage utilization. In stockless, cereal-growing, or specialized seed farms the forage is not needed and the mowed herbage is seldom marketable. Three different experiments were conducted in a Mediterranean environment to evaluate the effect of returning the cut biomass to the soil/crop on the regrowth, seed yield, and seed quality of berseem clover. Different forms of cut and post-cut management were examined, in which the time of cutting, the amount of biomass returned to the crop/soil, and the size of the returned material (unchopped or chopped) all varied. In addition, the effect of the …
Effects of nitrogen fertilization on efficiency and yield of a berseem clover-annual ryegrass intercrop in a Mediterranean environment
2004
Berseem-annual ryegrass intercropping: effect of plant arrangement and seeding ratio on N2 fixation and yield
2005
Various agronomic factors can affect the productivity and the efficiency of legume-grass intercropping systems. This research was carried out in a Mediterranean semi-arid environment (37°30’N; 13°31’E; 178 m a.s.l.) with the aim to study on berseem clover- annual ryegrass mixture (Trifolium alexandrinum L. – Lolium multiflorum Lam subsp. wersterwoldicum) the effects of different plant arrangement (sowing of the two components in alternate rows or in the same row) and seeding ratios (100:0; 75:25; 50:50; 25:75; 0:100) on forage yield, nitrogen content and nitrogen fixation. The experimental design was a split-plot with four replications. The 15N isotope dilution technique was used to estimat…
Effect of defoliation management and plant arrangement on yield and N2 fixation of berseem-annual ryegrass mixture
2005
The research was carried out in a Mediterranean semi-arid environment on berseem clover, annual ryegrass and their mixture to study the effect of defoliation management [date of first cut (FC) 85, 119, 140, 169 days after sowing] and different plant arrangements (sowing the two components in alternate rows or in the same row) on yields, N content, N2 fixation and N transfer. The experimental design was a split-plot with four replications. The 15 N isotope dilution technique was used (8 kg N ha –1 as ammonium sulphate at 10 atom% 15 N excess) to evaluate the N2 fixation. Total seasonal DM yield was, on average, significantly higher for FC119 and FC140 (approx. 12.3 t ha –1 ) than for FC85 and FC…
Forage yield and N2 fixation of Trifolium alexandrinum in pure stand and in mixture with Lolium multiflorum.
2010
The efficiency of grass-legume intercrop systems is affected by various agronomic factors such as crop density, plant spacing and arrangement that may alter the competitive relationships between component crops. This study was aimed to evaluate yield, N concentration, and symbiotic N2 fixation of berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) grown in pure stand or in mixture with annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam) either in alternating rows or in the same row. The experiment was conducted in two consecutive growing seasons in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment (Sicily, Italy). Dry matter (DM) yields were similar in the mixed stands and in the berseem pure stand; the annual ryegrass pu…