The Berseem is one of the most important forage legumes in Pakistan and India. It was first introduced in Sindh in 1904. It was cultivated in the Peshawar region in 1924, from where it moved to irrigated tracts of Punjab.

Now it is a major winter fodder crop and is successfully grown under irrigated conditions, and to some extent in the entire country.

Berseem is a diploid species. It has an edge over senji and shaftal in that it supplies abundant nutritious green fodder. The merit of the crop lies in its multi-cut nature, long duration of green fodder availability (November to April), high green fodder yield (85 t/ha), good forage quality (20 per cent crude protein), high digestibility (up to 65 per cent) and high palatability results in significant increase in milk production. Berseem is in fact known as milk multiplier.

Moderately cool climate is good for its growth but not below 20 degrees centigrade. It is commonly cultivated in canal-irrigated areas. It grows well on a wide range of soils from medium to heavy loam. It possesses moderate tolerance for salinity and can be used for reclamation of saline land. It has been advocated as the most economical way to bring saline land into use.

The land should be given 2-3 ploughings to make it soft and well pulverised. Well-leveled land ensures a uniform crop stand. Period between last week of September and first week of October is the best for sowing the fodder. The late variety can be sown up to mid-November.

Eight kilogrammes of healthy seed per acre should be broadcast in standing water. The seed should be broadcast carefully to maintain uniform plant density. To ensure kasni-free seed, the seed should be put in 10 per cent common salt (NaCl) solution and sieve out the floating kasni seed. One bag of DAP per acre is an economical way to meet its P requirement. Being a leguminous crop, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen and thus is also good for soil fertility. Its seeds require inoculation with a special species of bacteria (Rizobium trifoli) when it is to be planted on soil that has been under rice, which has not been sown with berseem for three years. One packet of culture that is available in market is sufficient for one acre.

The crop should be irrigated per requirement depending on soil and climatic conditions. On light soil, the first irrigation is needed within 3-5 days after sowing, on heavy soils, 7-10 days after sowing. Subsequent irrigations should be at 15-20 days interval until the end of February, while from March to the last cutting the crop should be irrigated at 10-12 days intervals depending upon the weather.

The fodder can be harvested in 45-60 days after sowing and subsequent cuts can be taken after every 30 days. The cutting schedule can also be adjusted in such a way so as to harvest green fodder everyday as per requirement. Surplus green fodder can be reserved as hay or silage in extreme hot months (June-July) and during cold seasons (December-January). The last cut is to be taken on or before 15th March and the crop is then left for seed formation. The crop usually matures in third week of April.

Root rot is a complex disease which causes serious loss to the fodder yield. Treating seed with Vitavex or Benlate before sowing can effectively reduce the loss. Armyworm can inflict serious economic damage to fodder, particularly to seed crops from flowering to maturity. The best control lies in flooding with Heptachlor or dusting with Sevin dust (85 per cent) and spraying the seed crop with relatively safe pesticides.

Agaiti berseem (early) is a high yielding variety, rich in nutrients. It is 10-15 days earlier than ‘Mascave’ and continues to supply green fodder up to the end of May. Pachaiti berseem (late) is somewhat cold tolerant and covers the soil evenly. It supplies green fodder up to early June. New varieties yield around 100-125 tones green fodder per hectare. The seed yield in favorable season ranges from 10-15 quintals per hectare.

The positive factors such as wide adaptation by farmers, high quality, good nutritive and digestive value coupled with multi-cut nature and high production makes it the ideal species for supplementing the nutritional requirement of milch animals particularly cattle. Under severe winter, berseem can be mixed with oat for barley and good yield of green fodder because most of animals are underfed.

Under the prevailing scenario and the problems like growing pressure of human population, decreasing area under fodder crops, shortage of irrigation water, less and unreliable rainfalls, barren rangelands, low priorities to fodder production and preservation, the only option left is to increase the yield of fodder crops on per unit area basis.

This is very much in line with the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA 1988) that suggested that “if all animals in milk receive a full diet which meet their daily appetites without changing the feed mix i.e.; maintaining the present low nutrition mix, this alone could increase milk yield by 100 per cent.”