Description
This is Ag Canada’s newest release of trefoil from Dr. Papadopoulos’ world class breeding program. This cultivar has been selected for vigorous seedling growth characteristics and for superior winter hardiness over previous North American cultivars. This has been borne out by Cornell University, New York State trials where BRUCE out yielded the check variety, NORCEN, by 51% (5 % LCD) in 2009 in its seedling year. Persistence issues have been addressed in this new cultivar as borne out in the trial data.
The cultivar, Bruce, came out on top on forage yields for all winter hardy cultivars in 2010 and 2011, out yielding the public variety Norcen by 28% in the first two years in the State trial.
In multi-site Eastern Canadian Trials, Bruce out yielded Leo by 1.07 t/ Ha (13.5% increase) in the Provinces of New Brunswick and the mean Nova Scotia/New Brunswick data shows a 0.42 t/ Ha increase over Leo in the 1998 – 2000 harvest data.
Seedling vigour is a very important trait as stockmen need to experience continued success in all environmental conditions for long term market acceptance for the variety and indeed the species, Lotus corniculatus.
With environmental groups and governments focusing on the carbon footprint of each type of animal practice, we know that birdsfoot trefoil with it’s high amount of condensed tannins will lower ruminant greenhouse gasses and increase by-pass protein, making the species invaluable in our fight against climate change.
Regenerative agriculture agronomists are also interested in the species for soil building capacity and general soil health. Trefoil has deep fibrous roots that sheds fine roots and releases secondary metabolites that can improve microbial communities. The symbiotic fixing of nitrogen with proper inoculation is important as well, increasing grass yields with no additional fertilization.
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