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Book of Abstracts First Legume Society Conference 2013: A Legume Odyssey Novi Sad, Serbia, 9-11 May 2013
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Breeding a red clover variety for grazing use
Beat Boller, Franz Schubiger, Peter Tanner
Agroscope, Zürich, Switzerland
Cultivated red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is almost exclusively used for mowing. It grows too tall
to fit as a companion to typical pasture grasses, and it does not tolerate intensive grazing. For this
reason, white clover (Trifolium repens L.) is the usual species of choice as a pasture legume.
However, white clover has some disadvantages. It tends to have unbalanced high protein content,
and it often dominates pastures to an undesirable degree when little nitrogenous fertilizers are
applied, such as in organic agriculture. These considerations led us to start developing a red
clover variety for grazing use. Breeding goals were persistence under grazing for at least 3 years, a
rapid regeneration after grazing through strong tillering, compatibility with pasture grasses such
as perennial ryegrass or fine-leaved tall fescue, and an acceptable yield potential for admittance to
national variety lists. An ecotype population of red clover originating from a horse pasture in the
Swiss Jura region was intercrossed with breeding material of the cultivated, persistent
“Mattenklee” type, followed by a backcross with Mattenklee and 3 generations of individual plant
selection for prostrate growth and strong tillering. The resulting variety was tested under grazing
and successfully passed official variety testing in Switzerland and in France. It was registered
under the denomination Pastor in 2010 (CH) and 2011 (F). Pastor is well suited for mixtures with
fine-leaved tall fescue and with perennial or hybrid ryegrass.
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