White sweet clover

Melilotus albus

MEBA

Year of registration: 2015 

White sweet clover

Origin:
Selection for yield stability from variety Adela, their propagation with subsequent individual selections and mixing of selected progenies

Description:
root – taproot penetrating up to greater depths
stem – erect, reaches a height of 150 cm or more
leaf – small, trifoliate, toothed along the margins
flower – white, borne in short-pedicelled racemes
seed – in one-seeded yellow to yellow-brown pods, sometimes greenish
pods, 1000-seed weight 1,8 – 2,3 g

Economic traits:

  • annual form which blooms and produces seed in the year of establishment
  • it does best on less fertile or non-fertile soils, it does not tolerate wetlands and very heavy soils
  • used as a forage crop, for improvement of non-fertile soils and as a good green-manure plant
  • it is valued by beekeepers
  • forage contains aromatic coumarin and cattle must get accustomed to it
  • freshly harvested young plants or silage are used as feed

Practical advice to growers:

  • it is grown in monoculture or in mixtures with others leguminous plants and grasses
  • if seeded alone the rate is 20 kg/ha
  • sowing time from early spring to late April
  • if grown for seed it must be cultivated under better conditions with a sufficient number of pollinators