Neches White Clover: a New Cultivar for the US Southern Region.

Neches white clover (Trifolium repens L.) is a synthetic variety of intermediate white clover with 147 parent plants selected for early and profuse flowering in combination with high leaf-to-stem ratio, and high potential forage production.  Parent plants originated from five breeding populations that had been previously selected for early flowering through one or two cycles of recurrent selection.  Parentage of Neches traces to the following germplasm sources: PI 404930 (17%); VRPop (36%); PI 298485 (34%); local ecotypes collected from Smith and Anderson counties, TX (10%);and VRG2 (3%).  Breeder seed was produced under field isolation near Overton, TX in 2005.  Seed was bulk harvested from all parent plants. Neches flowers early compared to La S-1 and slightly earlier than Durana.  Neches is in full bloom by mid-April at Overton, TX. Leaf size of this new cultivar is 20% larger than Durana. Forage yield is generally equal to La S-1.