• Serradella is a useful pasture species on the sandy soils of the West Midlands. But it has two major weaknesses: weed control (particularly radish and capeweed) and a lack of early biomass production. By sowing serradella with a Clearfield Barley variety (Scope or Spartacus) and using Clearfield (Imidazolinone) herbicides both of these weaknesses can be overcome.
• The aim of this demonstration was to highlight the pro’s and con’s of using Clearfield Barley as a cover crop when sowing serradella pastures.

This demonstration clearly showed that by adding a small amount of barley (16kg/ha) to serradella when re-seeding, early winter feed for livestock can be significantly increased.  However, as the photos from early September indicate, the serradella growth in spring can be held back due to competition from the barley. Increasing the frequency and intensity of grazing would help, as would the application of a grass selective herbicide to kill the barley in early spring when feed is becoming abundant. If the season was very poor, the barley might be left to increase total pasture production and groundcover for summer.