Sub clover adapted to NZ conditions

SUITABLE SUB CLOVER: Andrew Johnston from Luisetti Seeds says Puawhaa is the only sub clover selected in New Zealand specifically for NZ hill country environments. Picture supplied

A subterranean clover adapted for North Island East Coast hill country farming systems is being made available to farmers after decades of sitting on the shelf.

Canterbury-based seed company Luisetti Seeds is launching Puawhaa subterranean (sub) clover on to the market this spring ready for sowing next autumn.

Puawhaa is an ecotype of the subterranean (sub) clovers (Mt Barker and Tallarook) oversown on North Island hill country between Gisborne and Wairarapa in the 1940s and 50s.

Andrew Johnston from Luisetti Seeds said in the late 1980s, scientists working at Whatawhata Research Centre near Hamilton selected a line of sub clover suitable for low fertility, intensively grazed, dry hill country.

“It was more prostrate, dense and later flowering than the Australian sub clovers and more importantly, it was adapted to New Zealand farming conditions.”

In the late 1990s, the clover (given the title WS1801) went through all the testing regimes and registrations required to commercialise it but the clover never made it to market — until now.

Mr Johnston says Luisetti Seeds was searching for a clover with a prostrate crown, runners and a later-season flowering date as these characteristics all promote reseeding.

WS1801 ticked all the boxes in terms of dry-matter production as well as being an exceptional reseeder. It has the ability to produce more than 200 plants per square metre and yield over 1000kg/DM/ha in spring.

“It is particularly exciting that this is the only sub clover selected in New Zealand specifically for New Zealand hill country environments.”

In looking for a name for the clover, Mr Johnston consulted with Ngaati Maahanga, whose whenua includes the former Whatawhata Research Station now, Te Rauputiputi.

In recognition of the mahi and research carried out on WS1801, the iwi gifted the name Puawhaa, meaning flower of the plant with four leaves.

Mr Johnston said as a medium to later-maturing cultivar, Puawhaa will complement early flowering varieties of sub clover and when sown in combination, Puawhaa ensures a longer supply of feed during the spring production period.

“With the correct management, sub clover, which thrives in well-drained, sunny, low rainfall areas, has proved transformative on many coastal hill country farms throughout New Zealand, giving farmers the ability to drive high pre-weaning growth rates.

“This allows farmers to maximise their weaning draft and partition feed back into ewes to build body condition going into the following autumn's mating.”