Agronomic value and adaptation across climatically contrasting environments ofItalian red clover landraces and natural populations

Abstract

This study aimed to support red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) breeding programmes by investigating germplasm adaptive variation. Four landraces representative of the former commercial ecotypes from northern and central Italy, thirteen natural populations collected in Italy across a wide latitudinal and altitudinal range in exploited or abandoned old natural grasslands, natural pastures or in the wild, and the varieties Perseo and Divin were evaluated for 2‐year forage yield, for plant survival and for some morphophysiological traits. Evaluations were made at two sites, one with a subcontinental climate (Lodi) and the other with a Mediterranean climate (Viterbo). Specific adaptation was particularly large in natural populations, whose interaction with location implied a widespread inversion of population ranks across sites for forage yield depending on their geographical origin. Forage yield and persistence of the populations were not correlated, owing to the trend of landrace and variety germplasm towards high yield but poor persistence. At Lodi, forage yield was associated with winter hardiness and was maximized by landrace germplasm, whereas persistence depended on various factors and was high only in a set of natural populations collected from pastures. At Viterbo, natural populations that evolved under severe summer drought stress tended towards high yield and persistence, showing no yield disadvantage relative to the best‐performing landrace or variety germplasm.

Morpho-physiological and adaptive variation of Italian germplasm of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.)

“…Table 7. Coefficients of correlation of five collecting variables with 2-year forage dry matter (DM) yield in a location with a sub-continentalclimate (Lodi) and a Mediterranean-climate (Pietranera), and seed yield in the latter location, for 13 sulla ecotypes from Italy † P < 0.10; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; n.s., not significant (Annicchiarico and Pagnotta 2012). The interest for the breeding of sulla ecotypes from central Italy is reinforced by the concurrently high seed yield showed by some populations, e.g.…”

Achievements and Challenges in Improving Temperate Perennial Forage Legumes

“…Swiss Mattenklee ecotypes (Boller et al, 2004) have been a source of persistence in breeding programs. Wild populations feature higher levels of persistence than landraces (Annicchiarico and Pagnotta, 2012), but their exploitation as a genetic resource has been modest because of concurrently lower forage yield potential (Boller et al, 2010a). Red clover persistence is also markedly affected by tolerance to diseases (Taylor, 2008;Boller et al, 2010a).…”

“…Landraces play a more prominent role for red clover than for white clover breeding, owing to the long cultivation history of the species and to the relatively strong differentiation between cultivated and wild (spontaneous) forms. Compared to landraces, wild populations are less productive in favorable cropping environments but tend to greater general persistency, and may be higher-yielding even in the short term under severe stress conditions, e.g., drought (Annicchiarico and Pagnotta, 2012). An important example of genetic resources in red clover is the Swiss Mattenklee landraces, which form a genetically distinct group from Swiss wild populations according to amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, with important implications for conservation and breeding (Kölliker et al, 2003).…”

“…Red clover, more commonly used in mechanically harvested forage systems, shows extensive genetic variation for yield (Rosso and Pagano, 2005;Hejduk and Knot, 2010;Annicchiarico and Pagnotta, 2012;Vymyslicky et al, 2012), including clines of adaptation for heat and cold tolerance as they relate to yield and persistence. Studies using molecular markers have also revealed extensive genetic diversity (Dias et al, 2008;Vymyslicky et al, 2012), with rapid genetic change of broad populations grown in contrasting environments (Collins et al, 2012).…”

Influence de la salinité en plein champ sur la teneur en phytoestrogènes et la germination d’écotypes marocains deTrifolium

“…A titre d'exemple, le stress thermique et la se´cheresse induisent la production de phytoecdyste´roı¨des et d'autres me´tabolites secondaires (Zhao et al 2005). De meˆme, Annicchiarico et Pagnotta (2012) ont trouve´des niveaux plus e´leve´s de phytoestroge`nes chez une population de Trifolium pratense L. cultive´e durant une anne´e caracte´rise´e par de faibles pre´cipitations, par rapport a`deux autres anne´es a`fortes pre´cipitations. Le tre`fle souterrain (Trifolium subterraneum) peut contenir jusqu'a`5% de MS d'isoflavones oestroge´niques, comprenant la ge´niste´ine, la formonone´tine et la biochanine A (Booth et al 2006).…”