Publication Date
1985
Location
Kyoto Japan
Description
A good level of cool season activity is desirable in pasture plants for use in New Zealand. However, while the mechanisms contributing to this have been intensively studied in grasses, this is not so for legumes. An experiment was designed to study the components of vegetative yield contributing to the cool season growth of three white clover ecotypes of differing leaf size. Measurements of growth on a marked stolon showed that during winter, spring and early summer the DM yield ( consisting of leaf growth on a tagged stolon) of the large-leaved ecotype exceeded that of the smaller-leaved white clover by up to 70%. A hybrid of these was intermediate. There was little difference in the total number of leaves formed per stolon, or the number of leaves grown per unit stolon length. The higher DM yield was due to the higher weight of individual leaves arising from the considerably larger area per leaf developed by the large-leaved ecotype. Differences in stolon growth between the three white clovers were not great. A consideration of the many reported comparisons of large and smaller-leaved white clovers in New Zealand suggests that management which does not allow the full potential to grow large leaves to be expressed will result in a performance from large leaved varieties little different from that of the smaller leaved varieties.
Citation
Smetham, M L., "A Comparison of the Herbage Yield of Three White Clovers (Trifolium repens) of Differing Leaf Size" (1985). IGC Proceedings (1985-2023). 88.
(URL: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1985/ses6/88)
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Comparison of the Herbage Yield of Three White Clovers (Trifolium repens) of Differing Leaf Size
Kyoto Japan
A good level of cool season activity is desirable in pasture plants for use in New Zealand. However, while the mechanisms contributing to this have been intensively studied in grasses, this is not so for legumes. An experiment was designed to study the components of vegetative yield contributing to the cool season growth of three white clover ecotypes of differing leaf size. Measurements of growth on a marked stolon showed that during winter, spring and early summer the DM yield ( consisting of leaf growth on a tagged stolon) of the large-leaved ecotype exceeded that of the smaller-leaved white clover by up to 70%. A hybrid of these was intermediate. There was little difference in the total number of leaves formed per stolon, or the number of leaves grown per unit stolon length. The higher DM yield was due to the higher weight of individual leaves arising from the considerably larger area per leaf developed by the large-leaved ecotype. Differences in stolon growth between the three white clovers were not great. A consideration of the many reported comparisons of large and smaller-leaved white clovers in New Zealand suggests that management which does not allow the full potential to grow large leaves to be expressed will result in a performance from large leaved varieties little different from that of the smaller leaved varieties.
