1 Department of Statistics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
Institute of Crop Science and Plant Breeding—Grass and Forage Science/organic Agriculture, University of Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany. mwach{at}email.uni-kiel.de
A common experimental protocol was followed at 12 sites in Europe to study the development of two clover cultivars (AberHerald and Huia) grown in association with a ryegrass cultivar throughout their annual cycle. The duration of the experiment was between 1 and 3 years at each site. Detailed information about the morphogenesis and carbohydrate reserves of white clover during winter and the subsequent productivity of clover plants during the growing season was collected. Yield of the companion ryegrass was also measured at several harvests during the growing season and grass tiller density was recorded several times during winter. There was wide variation among sites and between years in climatic conditions, in the growth characteristics and chemical composition of the two cultivars, and in the tiller density of the ryegrass. The relative performance of the two cultivars varied among sites but AberHerald generally outperformed Huia. Major changes in plant characteristics (morphology, population size, chemical composition, etc.) occurred during overwintering. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the effects of site, clover cultivar and sward age (years) on various plant characteristics. It is established that the data provide a unique basis for modelling the effects of a wide range of environmental conditions and plant properties on the performance of white clover in mixed swards. A modelling approach that seeks to replace site and year by climatic variables characterizing each site by year combination is developed in two companion papers.
Trifolium repens, white clover, AberHerald, Huia, perennial ryegrass, competition, overwintering, winter hardiness, spring growth, clover proportion, plant morphology, carbohydrate reserves
Submitted on October 31, 2000
© 2001 Annals of Botany Company
Overwintering of Trifolium repens L. and Succeeding Growth: Results from a Common Protocol carried out at Twelve European Sites
2 Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth SY23 3EB, UK
3 Department of Plant Sciences, Crop and Weed Ecology, Wageningen University, Haarweg 333, 6709 RZ Wageningen, The Netherlands
4 SLU, Department of Ecology and Crop Production Science, Box 7043, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
5 Departement voor Plantengenetica en-veredeling, Caritasstraat 21, 9090 Melle, Belgium
6 INRA UMR Agronomie et Environnement Ensaia, 2, Avenue de la Forêt de Haye, F-54505 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy Cedex, France
7 The Agricultural Research Institute, Keldnaholt, 112 Reykjavík, Iceland
8 Institute of Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
9 Teagasc Research Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland
10 Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, Resource Management Research, Karilantie 2A, Mikkeli FIN-50600 Finland
11 Servizio Agricoltura—Aziende Sperimentali e Dimostrative Provinca di Pordenone, Via G. Ferraris 20, I-33170, Pordenone, Italy
12 Institute of Crop Science and Plant Breeding—Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, University of Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany
13 Chair of Grassland Science, Technische Universität München, D-85350, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
Revised on January 4, 2001
Accepted on May 16, 2001
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