SEED SIZE AND SEEDLING VIGOR IN BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL

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Abstract
The relationship between seed size and seedling vigor in the field and greenhouse was determined for European-type birdsroot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L).Sixty-four open-pollination progeny lines drawn from a nursery of 2,000 plants were grouped, on the basis of seed size, into eight classes each having eight lines. The largest-seeded lines were about twice as heavy as the smallest. Seedings were made in the greenhouse and in two field sites and the lines were evaluated visually and by weight for seedling vigor.The larger-seeded lines, on the average, outperformed the smaller ones but even they contained some poorer material. However, the best six lines all originated in the three larger-seeded classes. Forage yield in the greenhouse at six weeks of age provided a good index for predicting seedling vigor in the field.Suggestions are made for carrying out a breeding program aimed at developing a strain of trefoil excelling in seedling vigor. The scheme envisages the use of two laboratory screening techniques destined to eliminate all but the most vigorous lines and thereby to reduce the number of lines to be field-tested to 10% of the original population.