Abstract

Phytoestrogens (PE) are hormone-like plant substances that, when fed, may cause fertility problems, especially noticed in sheep. The aim of the study was to evaluate differences in PE concentration in red clover varieties. Two experiments were performed; Exp 1 with regrowth of 8 red clover varieties harvested at budding and at flowering and Exp 2 with regrowth of 12 varieties harvested at early flowering. There were significant differences between varieties for most PE. In Exp 1, when harvested on the same dates, Peggy, Ilte and SW Torun had higher mean concentration of formononetin, a potent PE, compared to SWA RK95097. When considering differences in maturity, Peggy, Ilte and LO RK9735 seemed to have a higher content than e.g. SW Ares. In Exp 2, Fregata had high concentration of total PE but the lowest content of formononetin. SW Betty and Ilte had high concentrations of both formononetin and coumestrol. Later harvest (Exp 1) gave decreased concentrations of most of the observed PE. The significant content of coumestrol that was found has not been previously reported for red clover.

Keywords

phytoestrogen, Trifolium pratense, variety

Published in

Grassland Science in Europe
2016, Volume: 21, pages: 254-256
Title: The multiple roles of grassland in the European bioeconomy
ISBN: 978-82-17-01677-9
Publisher: NIBIO

Conference

EGF 2016, The multiple roles of grassland in the European bioeconomy

SLU Authors

• Bernes, Gun

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Höjer, Annika

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Gustavsson, Anne-Maj

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Agricultural Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/77634