DONCHE

Yellow Sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis Lam.) is a semi-erect shrub that reaches a height of 105–125 cm in the flowering stage and 180–190 cm at seed maturity. The stem is straight and hairless, with high branching that ensures good air circulation and plant stability. Leaves are alternate, trifoliate: lower leaflets are narrowly oval on short petioles, while upper ones are oval on long petioles. Each leaf has two entire awl-shaped stipules with serrated blunt-toothed margins.

The variety is characterized by bright yellow flowers gathered into a raceme inflorescence 13–15 cm long. The flowers droop and bloom on a short pedicel, creating an attractive appearance and increasing attractiveness to pollinating insects. The fruit is a single-seeded oval asymmetrical pod 5.1–6.2 mm long and 2.2–3.1 mm wide, brownish-brown in color with transverse wrinkles. Seeds are oval in shape, smooth, greenish-yellow (immature with brown spots), with a mass of 1000 seeds ranging from 2.7–2.9 g.

The vegetative period from full spring growth to flowering is 55–58 days, and to seed maturity is 105–110 days. The yield of green mass averages 290–310 c/ha over two years of pasture use, hay is 70–80 c/ha, and seeds is 18–20 c/ha. These figures make yellow sweetclover valuable both for producing fodder crops and for collecting seeds as biological fertilizers.