LEGUMES IN HIGH-COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

On eroded, acid subsoils above 1OOOm Lotus spp. were better adapted than clovers to low phosphorus and high exchangeable aluminium levels in the soil. Lotus grew better and fixed more nitrogen than white clover, and its uptake of aluminum was less than clover. With adequate supplies of fertilizer, lotus and clover fixed up to 140 kg N/ha/yr, most of which was incorporated in a surface turf. The proportion of lotus in the sward was reduced by the greater production of grass associated with increasing rates of superphosphate.