CLOVER AND TREFOIL BREEDING FOR THE APPALACHIAN REGION

Authors: Voigt, Paul; Morris, Dolen

Submitted to: Southern Pasture and Forage Crop Improvement Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The objective of our clover breeding research is to develop persistent and productive cultivars for Appalachian pastures. Usually, clover cultivars have been developed based on individual plant performance. Although this approach can produce cultivars with good disease resistance and good climatic adaptation, it may not result in high persistence and productivity where the clover will be grown in mixtures with grasses and where they will be grazed by livestock rather than harvested for hay. We will evaluate and select white clover and birdsfoot trefoil germplasm by growing climatically adapted and disease resistant strains in mixtures with orchardgrass and by subjecting them to the selective grazing of sheep. Plants that are tolerant of repeated grazing will be used in a breeding program to product new white clover and birdsfoot trefoil cultivars.

Technical Abstract: Literature on the breeding of white clover for adaptation to growth in mixtures and to grazing by livestock was reviewed. Results of numerous studies suggest that growing clover plants in spaced-plant monoculture can provide useful information for some plant characteristics and for genetic studies of those characters. However, primarily because of the effects of light quantity and quality when clover plants are grown with grasses, stolon branching and stolon growth can not be effectively evaluated in monoculture. Rotational stocking with sheep can be used to study effects of animal grazing, trampling, etc., on clover and trefoil germplasm. Selective grazing by sheep is well documented and indicates that active selection by animals produces different selection pressures than the passive selection of mechanical mowers. To obtain productive and persistent white clover cultivars for Appalachian pastures, breeding efforts need to concentrate on medium to large leaved white clovers and avoid the highly persistent but low yielding small leaved strains. Germplasm must be evaluated in mixtures with grasses and in grazing studies.