Grasslands Legacy - a new, large-leaved white clover cultivar with broad adaption

Abstract

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) continues to play a pivotal role in the Australasian pastoral industry, despite increased use of nitrogen fertiliser on farms. Improved white clovers for dairy farming must be well adapted to the farm systems they are intended for, including increased rates of fertiliser nitrogen, higher stocking rates and access to irrigation. The breeding objective was to develop a white clover cultivar in evaluation systems that simulate modern farming practices, and test that cultivar in both New Zealand and Australia for adaptation and agronomic merit. This included breeding and early generation evaluation at research farms in the Manawatu and Waikato, with subsequent evaluations in these locations and farms in Southland and Victoria, Australia. This resulted in 'Grasslands Legacy', a new large leaved white clover cultivar bred for New Zealand and eastern temperate Australian pastures, which has shown significant (P<0.05) improvement on New Zealand cultivars including 'Kopu II' and 'Kotare'. 'Grasslands Legacy' offers good utility for modern intensive pastoral systems, particularly through yield, persistence, and improved adaptation to abiotic stress. Keywords Breeding, abiotic stress, Australasia, genotype × environment, Trifolium repens