Carolina clover: High prospect for the Conservation Reserve Program

Dale H. Arner; Jeanne Jones; Chris Bucciantini

High prospect for the Conservation Reserve Program

Excerpt

SOIL conservationists, administrators of Conservation Reserve Program land, highway and utility line managers, and state game officials have been seeking plants that will more effectively meet their conservation needs. Paramount among those needs are such characteristics as providing protective ground cover quickly and at low cost, improving wildlife habitat, and requiring little maintenance.

Plant scientists have been striving to meet these needs by developing new or improved varieties of herbaceous plants. Some of the more highly advertised plants are the socalled 30-06 strains of ladino clover (Trifoliurn repens) and jointvetch (Aeschynomene indica). Both of these legumes can be used as supplemental food by deer and turkey. New varieties of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) that have lower tannic acid contents are being recommended for small game use and erosion control purposes. For improved livestock food and erosion control, perennial grasses, such as Kentucky fescue (Festuca elatior arundinacea) are being promoted.

Based on field trial studies, we …

Footnotes

Dale H. Arner is a professor emeritus, Jeanne Jones is a senior research assistant, and Chris Bucciantini is a research assistant in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, 39762.
Copyright 1992 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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