Year: 1963
Type: article
Abstract: On a bouldery yellow‐brown loam near Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand, covered mainly with stunted Pteridium esculentum, white clover inoculated with Rhizobium trifolii was oversown as follows: At 4 different times: July, August, September, and November 1961. With and without 10 cwt limestone/ac. Unpelleted and pelleted with animal charcoal or lime. The following results were obtained: In spite of the use of a certified source of clover rhizobia peat culture a large proportion of seedlings had a nitrogen‐deficient appearance one to 2 months after sowing. Recovery from deficiency symptoms occurred in spring and again in autumn, but not during a relatively moist summer. This fact favoured the July‐ and August‐sown treatments. Cover provided by fern and stones against frost‐heave and sun appeared to interact with time of sowing. The majority of the pellets made had low numbers of effective clover rhizobia. Even the high‐quality pellets used in the July sowing gave no better results than unpelleted inoculated seed. Charcoal pellets were clearly better than lime pellets. Liming did not affect the vigour or survival of early‐germinating seedlings, but appeared to increase the survival rate of late‐germinating seed, presumably because it assisted the survival and multiplication of clover rhizobia in the soil. More effective means of seed inoculation, plus adequate cover and liming, would diminish the importance of time of oversowing white clover. But with present knowledge sowing dates between 15 July and 1 September seem best near Te Anau.
Authors: C. During, N. A. Cullen, N. S. Mountier
Language: English
Subfield: Agronomy and Crop Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Life on land
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2335597813