BERSEEM (EGYPTIAN CLOVER)

Botanical Name : Trifolium alexandrinum L.

Berseem is popularly known as the king of fodder crops for irrigated condition of
northern India, because it is available for 6-7 month from November to May. The crop gives 4 to
6 cuts during winter, spring and early summer seasons and provides nutritious, succulent and
palatable forage. The green forage of berseem, on dry matter basis contains 17-22 % crude
protein, 42-49 % neutral detergent fibre, 35-38 % acid detergent fibre, 24-25 % cellulose and 7
10 % hemi cellulose. The green forage can also be converted in to excellent hay and utilized for
enrichment of poor quality roughages from cereals. Besides this, berseem has got a soil building
characteristics and improves the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil, resulting
in better growth and yield of crops in rotation.
Climatic Requirements :
Berseem is adapted to cool and moderately cold climate. Such conditions prevail during
winter and spring seasons in north India which is considered as favourable and productive zone
for this crop. The optimum temperature at the time of sowing of berseem is 25 0C. For luxuriant
vegetative growth temperature range of 250C to 27oC has been found ideal. Due to shorter winter
period, berseem cannot be cultivated in southern India.
Soil and its preparation
Well drained clay to clay loam soil rich in humus, calcium and phosphorus are suitable
for good crop of berseem. Comparatively heavy textured soils are considered better due to
greater water retaining capacity and congenial edaphic environments for crop persistency. The
field should be perfectly leveled to obtain even distribution of irrigation water and to avoid water
stagnation. Berseem can be grown in saline-sodic soils.
The land should be opened with soil inversion plough followed by 2-3 operations by
deshi plough/cultivator and planking. The preparation of good seed bed is an essential
component of cultivation practices to obtain desired level of tilth. Fine seed bed is required
especially when berseem is to be grown as seed crop in rows without pudling to facilitate weed
removal and rouging for quality seed production. When the crop is to be sown in puddled beds,
cross harrowing /ploughings are needed to remove established weeds, stubbles of the previous
crop and to open the soil for leveling by planking.
Varieties
Sowing time
Sowing time is an important factor governing germination, seedling survival, number of
cuts and herbage production. Berseem should be sown when the temperature is in the range of
25-27oC. Thus, the optimum sowing time of berseem in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is
mid of October. In West Bengal and Gujarat, sowing is done in the month of November. Sowing
can be continued upto first week of December in eastern region. Timely sowing extends the
period of forage availability and thereby increases the total yield.
Seed rate, and
Under normal conditions the optimum seed rate of berseem is 25 kg/ha. When the sowing
is taken up earlier than the appropriate time, the quantity of seed used is increased by 15 to 20 %
to compensate the loss of seedling mortality occurring due to prevailing high atmospheric
temperature. In low land rice ecosystem, berseem sowing is done in standing crop of rice, 15
days before harvest. Under such situation, seed rate of 35 kg/ha would ensure proper plant
population.
Seed treatment
For elimination of chicory weed (kasani), the seed should be poured in 1 per cent
common salt. Floating chicory seed should be taken out and remaining seed of berseem should
be sown. Before sowing seed should be inoculated with culture of Rhizobium trifollii. For
treating the seed, it should be first soaked into fresh water for about 8–12 hrs. For better sticking
of culture with seed, the culture is prepared with jaggery. About 1.5 lit of water is mixed with
150 g of jaggery and boiled. After cooling, 2.5 packet of berseem culture is mixed with it and
then seed is well mixed and dried in a cool shady place.
Sowing methods
There are two methods for sowing of berseem i.e., dry and wet bed. For satisfactory
germination and good plant stand, wet method is better. For better establishment and less weed
problem in initial stage, berseem is sown, under puddled condition. The seed bed for berseem
sowing is prepared by filling the water to a depth of 4-5 cm, raking the soil and creating the
muddy condition by light puddling (mechanical manipulation of soil at high moisture content).
Then the over night soaked seeds are broadcasted in standing muddy water in crosswise
directions to obtain uniform seed distribution. The sowing should be done towards the evening or
during non windy periods of the day.
Crop mixture
Berseem is sown mixed with other companion crops to increase dry matter content and
forage yield in first cutting and to obtain good mineral balances in herbage in all the cuttings. For
early and timely sowing, chinese cabbage, japan rape and lucerne form better combination,
whereas, for late sown conditions, oats is the better choice. In order to achieve the twin
objectives of early bulking and later persistency of crop stand, berseem is sown by mixing ¾
seed of diploid + ¼ seed of tetraploid types. In first cutting, the forage yield of berseem is low
because of less bacterial nitrogen fixation and tiller formation. In order to compensate yield in
first cutting, seed of berseem is sown mixed with 1.5-2.0 kg seed of japan rape or chinese
cabbage.
Cropping systems
Promising cropping systems are:
Rice-Berseem, Sorghum-Berseem, Sorghum + Cowpea –Berseem + Mustard, N-B hybrid
+ (Cowpea –Berseem) and Guinea grass + (Cowpea –Berseem)
Nutrient management
Since, berseem is a leguminous crop, it needs less nitrogen from external sources,
because, its root nodules contain Rhizobium trifolii bacteria which fix atmospheric nitrogen for
plant use. Therefore, fertilizer nitrogen is required only for establishment prior to the formation
of root nodules. A dose of 20 kg N/ha at sowing is the optimum for growth of the crop. In
general, the crop responds significantly upto 80-90 kg P O /ha as 2 5 basal application. The
potassium requirement of berseem has been found to be 30 to 40 kg K O/ha in low potassium
soils.
Water management
Berseem requires huge quantities of water for producing green succulent biomass. As
much as 500 kilograms or more of water is required for every kilogram of plant dry matter
produced in a dry climate. Therefore, adequate and timely water supply is one of the basic inputs
for obtaining potential crop yield which necessitates precise knowledge of irrigation techniques
and approaches in berseem crop. On the basis of irrigation investigation at IGFRI, Jhansi over
the years, the following useful information on irrigation management of berseem emerged:

On the basis of soil type and normal climatic condition the following irrigation schedules
are recommended for berseem in different seasons and soils:

Weed management
The weed management is one of the vital components of berseem cultivation. The major
associated weed of berseem crop is kasani/chicory (Chicorium intybus). The nature of this weed
is such that it infests from field to seed and vice-versa. The intensity of field infestations could be
minimized by treatment with 10% solution of common salt and deep summer ploughing with soil
inversion plough after final harvest of the crop. Usually chicory is found admixed with berseem
seed. Since the size of chicory seed resembles with berseem seed; it becomes difficult to separate
them by ordinary methods. However, the seed of berseem is oval while the seed of chicory is
conical. To remove chicory seeds from berseem seed, 10 % common salt solution is used. The
chicory seeds being lighter in density than berseem, seeds float on the surface while berseem
seeds settle down at the bottom of container. In this way chicory seeds may be drained off and
berseem seed is collected. Recently, some weedicides like Imazethapyr @ 0.10 kg in/ha as pre-
plant incorporation was found effective for control of chicory along with other weeds. Pneumatic
seed separators are also in development stage to separate the chicory seeds from berseem seeds.
Disease and insect-pest management
During the month of December and January, when the crop attains luxuriant vegetative
growth and cloudy days persist for longer period, the heavy infestation of fungal diseases such as
root rot and stem rot occur. It has been observed that the problem is more acute under the
situations of cloudy condition prevailing for longer period, creation of damp conditions due to
water stagnation, light penetration at the ground is curtailed due to delayed cutting and field is
heavily manured with un-decomposed FYM and/or irrigated with sewage water. The agronomic
approaches to manage diseases are; using well rotten manure in proper quantities, fertilizing the
crop with heavy dose of potassium, leveling field properly to avoid water stagnation, avoiding
frequent irrigations during cloudy days, cutting the crop frequently to expose the ground for
adequate light penetration and avoiding the growing of berseem crop in the same field year after
year and deep ploughing during summer.
Harvesting management
The first cutting should be taken at 50-55 days after sowing of crop. The subsequent
cuttings should be taken at 25-30 days interval. The number of cuts depends upon rate of growth
and temperature during the life cycle of the crop. The crop is capable of producing 100 to 120
t/ha of green forage and 15-20 tonnes/ha dry fodder under improved agronomic management
practices and favorable weather conditions.
Seed Production :
The seed yield of berseem mainly depends upon the time of last cut for green fodder and
leaving it for seed production. The decision varies with the variety, type of soil and climate. The
last cutting should be taken relatively early in low humidity and late in high humidity areas. The
optimum time of leaving the crop for seed production is the fi rst fortnight of April for BL-1 and
second fortnight of April for BL-10 varieties of berseem. Variety BL 42 should be left for seed
production by 10th of April and BL-43 from end March to mid April. Shaftal, kashni and other
weeds should be completely removed from the seed crop. Irrigate the crop frequently during the
formation and ripening of the seed.
A successful crop of berseem for seed production can be sown in end November after the
harvest of basmati rice. It provides three cuttings of green fodder before leaving the crop for seed
production.
The seed crop of berseem can also be sown as late as the first fortnight of January. This
late sown crop should also be left for seed production as mentioned above after taking two
cuttings. The management practices of the late sown crop are the same as in normal sown crop.
The average seed yield is about 5 quintals per hectare.
To get higher seed yield, give two sprays of 2% Potassium nitrate (13:0:45) (5 kg
potassium nitrate in 250 litres of water per hectare) at weekly interval, starting from flower
initiation. Alternatively, give two sprays of Salicylic acid @ 20 gm in 250 litres of water per
hectare. Salicyclic acid must be dissolved in 600 ml of ethyl alcohol before making the final
volume in 250 litres.