TREFOIL, Lotus ornithopodioides L., JUNAK

Year of registration: 1997

Origin: Individual selections from materials obtained from botanic gardens and by mixing of selected progenies

Description:
Stem: longing, seldom erect, branched
Leaf: petuiolate leaflets, obovate
Inflorescence: capitular umbel with 2–5 flowers
Flower: eggyolk-yellow petals
Fruit: sickle-shaped pod, 4–5 cm long, greatly depressed, reddish-brown, pointed
Seed: lentil-like flattened, yellow-brown to green-brown, smooth to bright
1000-seed weight: 1,156–1,650 g

Economic traits:

• annual, multi-cut forage crop which can be left without cutting for autumn ploughing down
• tolerates all soil and climatic conditions
• it makes best grouwth when sufficient soil moisture is available, but it is resistant to drought
• when seeded in wide rows the cluster becomes prostrate

Practical advice to growers:

• if grown for forage, it should be sown no earlier than from April to May into 12,5 cm rows
• sowing rate is 12 – 15 kg/ha
• if grown for forage it is cut at the time of blooming
• the time of cutting can be chosen as required because even at the time of pod maturation the stand continues to grow and does not become senescent