Scientifically Speaking…  Extensive Research Goes into Each Product

By Wiley C. Johnson, PhD, Whitetail Institute Agronomist and Forage Research Director

Imperial Whitetail Clover is unsurpassed as the source for premium food plots for deer. Some people aren’t aware of the huge amount of research and testing that has gone into the development of the product. Selected clover species have long been recognized as being a productive, nutritious and attractive forage for deer and other wildlife species. Starting in 1988, the Whitetail Institute began a program of genetically improving what was already a quality forage.

The objective was to retain all the desirable traits of the best clover varieties available and improve other traits making it the most complete forage for whitetails. Traits selected for improvement were deer attractiveness, seedling vigor, herbage production, persistence, disease resistance cold heartiness and drought tolerance. The original population upon which selection began consisted of nineteen cultivars from throughout the world, plus eight leading domestic clovers.

The first year, these sources were grown as individual plants so that those superior individuals could be identified and selected. Care was taken to select at least one individual from each source to assure as much diversity as practical. These selected plants were removed and grown together, isolated from other clovers and allowed to intercross with each other. Seeds were harvested from these plants and combined. These seeds were planted for the next cycle of selection. To summarize, what we are doing is starting with the best available, selecting superior plants to intercross, and repeat the process. This is an old, reliable method of plant breeding called “recurrent selection.” Progress is not fast but is consistent provided genetically superior plants are chosen and the population is large and diverse enough to avoid inbreeding.

The Whitetail Institute’s superior clover has actually progressed so far genetically that it is now considered it’s own clover variety. No other clover in the world has been developed specifically for white-tailed deer. This process of improving the product continues today. This is unique, no other clover food plot seed product uses this system of maintaining and improving quality.

Our other Imperial Whitetail products like No-Plow™, Alfa-Rack™, PowerPlant™ and the mineral/nutritional supplements, are not just formulated or concocted and sold. Each has been tested locally at our facility, and by using our widely dispersed satellite group of field testers. Nothing is offered for sale until we are confident it will do the job. For example, PowerPlant, which was introduced earlier this year, was first discussed over five years ago. Four years ago we began initial testing. Every year since then, we have fine-tuned the product until we were extremely satisfied with the results. Then we offered the product to consumers.

Every product, even the most basic, goes through years of testing to determine effectiveness. As Whitetail Institute Vice President Steve Scott often says, “All you have is your integrity. Once you lose that, you’ve lost the trust of your customers. We do everything possible to continue to build on the respect we’ve earned and provide the quality products our customers expect.”