SARDI Rose Clover

Product Description

• Seed Agronomy Table

  Seeding Rate - Dryland (kg/ha)

  5 - 8

  Seeding Rate - High Rainfall/Irrigation (kg/ha)

  10 - 15

  Hard Seed Level Description

  High

  Waterlogging Tolerance

  Poor

  Maturity

  Early-Mid

• Seed Treatment

  Goldstrike®

• Enterprises For This Seed

  Beef and Sheep

  Silage and Hay

• Strengths

  Very well adapted to mildly acid and alkaline sandy-loam and loam soils Productive annual forage and tolerant to heavy grazing in medium-low rainfall areas Suited to self regenerating ley systems or short-term phase farming Protection against false breaks Medium-low level of hard seed Ideal companion plant in mixtures with other legumes such as subterranean clover or serradella

• Limitations

  Not adapted to waterlogged soils Low level of hard seeds Lack of persistence under intensive crop rotation

• Plant Description
  Plant

  The inflorescence is a globular terminal head, which varies from light to dark pink in colour.

  Seeds

  Seeds are smooth, slightly compressed, cream coloured, approximately 2 millimetres long and weigh 3 to 4 milligrams, with about 250,000 seeds per kilogram.

• Pasture Type And Use

  Rose clover is an aerial seeding, winter growing self-regenerating annual pasture legume. It is typically grown in areas that support either subterranean clover or annual medics and is often sown in mixture with subterranean clover, serradella and biserrula.

• Rainfall

  Suited to regions with 400 to 700 millimetres annual rainfall.

• Soils

  Adapted to soils of mildly acid to alkaline reaction (pH 5 to 8 CaCl2) and to a range of textures.

• Temperature

  Tolerant to frosts.

• Establishment
  Grasses

  Italian ryegrass, consol lovegrass and Premier digit grass).

  Legumes

  Subterranean clover, biserrula, serradella, crimson clover, bladder clover, annual medics and gland clover.

  Sowing/Planting Rates In Mixtures

  Sow at 5 to 15 kilograms per hectare in mixtures with other pasture legumes. *ensure seed is Goldstrike® treated.

  Sowing/Planting Rates as Single Species

  Sowing rate for pure pasture swards should be 5 to 15 kilograms per hectare. Sow shallow at 0.5 centimetres. Rolling after sowing is an advantage. * ensure seed is Goldstrike® treated.

  Sowing Time

  Sow Rose clover in autumn as close to the break of season as possible.

  Inoculation

  Goldstrike® treated. The use of XLR8™ seed treatment is recommended to reduce damage from insects at seedling stages.

  Fertiliser

  Sow with 100 to 150 kilograms per hectare of superphosphate, or super/potash if on sandy soils.

• Management
  Grazing/Cutting

  Rose clover can be heavily grazed in winter. However, because of its erect growth habit, care needs to be taken in spring to prevent overgrazing and reduced seed set.

  Ability to Spread

  Many seeds of rose clover survive ingestion by sheep and are readily spread around paddocks.

  Weed Potential

  There have not been reported cases of rose clover growing within native vegetation.

  Major Pests

  Rose clover is moderately tolerant to blue green aphid, lucerne flea and red legged earth mite.

  Major Diseases

  It has little or no susceptibility to clover scorch disease (Kabatiella caulivora).

  Herbicide Susceptibility

  Tolerant to most of the broad-leaf herbicides used on pastures. Grass weeds can be safely controlled with common grass-selective herbicides.

• Animal Production
  Feeding Value

  Rose clover has palatability similar to subterranean clover. Organic matter digestibility of rose clover in spring is usually around 70 per cent with 20-25 per cent crude protein, but these values decrease with senescence.

  Palatability

  Readily consumed by livestock, either as green or dry feed, including mature seed pods.

  Production Potential

  The quantity of forage produced by rose clover is generally equivalent and sometimes better than subterranean clover. Peak dry matter yields in ungrazed swards can range between 4 and 7 tonne per hectare.

  Livestock Disorders/Toxicity

  No livestock disorders have been reported but, as with most legumes, could cause bloat in cattle in very pure rose clover swards. Rose clover has very low to undetectable levels of the isoflavones associated with infertility in sheep.

• Establishment Guarantee

  At S&W Seed Company Australia we're so confident about our seed genetics and seed quality, we will replace seed at half the original purchase price if it fails to establish satisfactorily in the first thirty days* Read more