Development of subterranean clover(Trifolium subterraneumL.) genotypes for New Zealand pastures 2. Wairakei persistence evaluation

Abstract

A 3-year trial to evaluate the persistence of a number of selected subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) lines and cultivars was carried out in grazed pastures in hill country of the central North Island, New Zealand. Seedlings were transplanted into existing swards on an easy (10-15° slope) contoured paddock. Spring cover, summer/autumn seedling emergence, and winter plant populations were measured, focussing on annual regeneration of the lines. Important factors in the success of subterranean clover genotypes were identified as late maturity and strong autumn regeneration. The recent cultivar 'Karridale' outperformed the well-adapted 'Tallarook'. Five other lines evaluated in this trial stood out in terms of successful persistence and the ability to make a substantial contribution to late winter/spring pasture growth. All had the ability to consistently regenerate winter plant populations in excess of 300 plants/ m 2 , and accumulate buried seed reserves of over 1000 seeds/m 2 . These lines were therefore considered suitable for further development towards a well-adapted cultivar for New Zealand summerdry hill country pastures.

Subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum): its history and current and future research in New Zealand

“…Buried seed, measured in March, and hence regarded as hard seed, was 21-69% of the total. An evaluation on drier pumice hill country (Dodd et al 1995b) gave an almost identical result, but with the addition of 'Karridale' to the top performing lines.…”

Phenological development of subterranean clover cultivars under contrasting environments

“…Values were within ranges found for other clover species from 150 to 300°Cd (Lonati et al, 2009; Moot et al, 2003). This implies that management of subterranean clover cultivars at these early vegetative stages should consider other plant characteristics such as morphological traits (for example leaf size), growth habit (Dodd, Sheath, & Richardson, 1995), phytotoxicity (Lewis, 2017) and adaptability (Ghamkhar et al, 2012; Teixeira et al, 2019).…”

Prospects for Trifolium Improvement Through Germplasm Characterisation and Pre-breeding in New Zealand and Beyond

“…Similar to red clover, T. subterraneum has high levels of formononetin which is generally selected against early in the breeding programme ( Nicholas et al, 1981 ). Trials across New Zealand have been evaluated to select T. subterraneum lines that have improved persistence and dry matter production ( Dodd et al, 1995a , b , c ). Recent studies have identified Australian cultivars that are best adapted to New Zealand dryland pastoral systems ( Lucas et al, 2015 ; Olykan et al, 2018 ).…”