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Stem Development, Seeding Rate, And Establishment Of Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus Corniculatus) For Organic, Grazing-Based Dairies, Sara Hunt
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Birdsfoot trefoil (BFT, Lotus corniculatus L.) is a non-bloating, productive forage legume well suited to grazing-based ruminant production. This thesis presents three studies conducted in the Mountain West applicable to organic management and cultivation of BFT. The first is an analysis of lignification in BFT stems that supports recommendations to harvest BFT at approximately 6 weeks of regrowth, or early bloom. Lignification decreases digestibility and is correlated with high shear force required for grazing animals to break BFT stems. The process of stem lignification was observed by harvesting increasingly mature stems; cutting thin sections of the sixth stem internode, which …