Journal
JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY AND CROP SCIENCE-ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ACKER UND PFLANZENBAU
Volume 187, Issue 1, Pages 11-18Publisher
BLACKWELL WISSENSCHAFTS-VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1046/j.1439-037X.2001.00495.x
Keywords
backcross; drought; interspecific hybrids; Trifolium ambiguum; Trifolium repens
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Backcross hybrids between the important forage legume white clover Trifolium repens, which is stoloniferous, and the related rhizomatous. species T. ambiguum have been produced using T. repens as the recurrent parent. The drought tolerance of parents and two generations of backcross plants, possessing both stolons and rhizomes, was studied in deep soil bins in a glasshouse both as monocultures and in mixtures with perennial ryegrass. Soil moisture content, leaf relative water content, and leaf water potential were measured on plants subjected to drought cycles of 4 weeks duration and those watered normally and maintained at field capacity. Six cycles of drought, carried out over 2 years, showed that T. ambiguum and the first and second generation backcross. hybrids maintained a greater leaf relative water content and higher leaf water potential than T. repens at comparable levels of soil moisture. The dry matter yield of T. repens was significantly reduced over each drought cycle compared to the watered treatments, while the yield of T. ambiguum increased over the 4-week cycle in both treatments. The yield of the backcross generations was intermediate between those of the two parental species. The implications of these results for white clover germplasm. improvement programmes are discussed.
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