Establishment of kura clover and red clover on surface mine spoil and soil

Field trials were conducted to study edaphic and seed treatment effects on stand establishment of kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum Bieb.) compared with red clover (T. pratense L.) on surface mine spoil and undisturbed soil. Scarified kura clover seed were either left uncoated, coated with a commercial seed treatment, or coated and treated with a fungicide. Site effects on seedling stand density were small. Maximum red and kura clover stand densities near 60 and 30 plants m −1 of row, respectively, represented 53% and 33% of the germinable seed planted. In June following seeding, shoot mass of red clover was 13.6 and 4.1 times greater than that of kura clover on soil and mine spoil, respectively. Seed coating effects were small. One-yr-old kura clover plants from the soil site had greater root, crown and total plant mass plant −1 than red clover but the opposite was true on mine spoil. The consistency of reduced seedling densities for kura compared with red clover suggests that higher seeding rates might be warranted. Reduced above-ground seedling growth of kura clover is associated with greater weight accumulation in below-ground rhizome tissues compared with red clover.