Comparison of a range of New Zealand perennial clovers for resilience against common pasture pests

A project was initiated in 2016 to compare pest resilience amongst 20 current leading commercial or near release New Zealand clover cultivars. Laboratory feeding choice tests comparing foliage from the test clovers against Grasslands Kopu II as the standard confirmed that the red clovers were less preferred than white clovers by adult clover root weevil Sitona obsoletus and clover flea Sminthurus viridus. Grey field slug Deroceras reticulatum showed no preference between red and white clovers with the white clover Grassland Prestige performing the best. Porina Wiseanna copularis larvae had lowest weight gains on strawberry clover. Subsequent tests using neonate lepidoptera larvae and an artificial diet made with freeze-dried foliage from cultivars in the most and least preferred subgroups indicated antifeedant compounds, rather than leaf morphology, are likely responsible for differences in feeding preferences between red and white clovers.