Pelleting materials for oversown clover

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Abstract
The influence of two adhesives (gum arabic or methyl cellulose) and two coating materials (lime or rock-phosphate + dolomite) on both the survival of Rhizobium trifolii on the seed after inoculation and the establishment of oversown ‘Grasslands Huia’ white clover (Trifolium repens) was investigated over 2 years. With one exception (1973, 16-day storage), in which there were no significant treatment effects on the number of rhizobia per seed, gum arabic adhesive maintained higher populations of rhizobia on the pelleted seed and gave higher percentage establishment of healthy plants than methyl cellulose, after storage periods up to 16 days. Lime was superior to rock-phosphate + dolomite in maintaining rhizobia on the pelleted seed in 1972 (1-day storage) and in increasing the percentage of healthy plants in 1973 (1- and 16-day storage). Otherwise, there was no significant difference between lime and rock phosphate + dolomite. Gum arabic-lime pellets are recommended for oversown clover because they consistently increased the establishment of healthy plants compared with inoculated-only seed.