Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-mwx4w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T02:07:20.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Variation in plasticity within the S. 23 cultivar of Lolium perenne L.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. Valentine
Affiliation:
Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth
A. H. Charles
Affiliation:
Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth

Summary

The S. 23 cultivar of Lolium perenne L. has the ability to perform well in a wide range of environments and an experiment was designed to examine the phenotypic plasticity of S. 23 genotypes with particular reference to the level of nitrogen application.

Genotypes of S. 23 grown in a controlled growth room at close spacing (5 cm) showed a wide range of dry-matter yields with the highest yielding 144 times that of the lowest at the last of six cuts taken at 4-week intervals. Genotypes maintained much the same order of yield from one nitrogen level to another, but there were exceptions. Regression techniques were used to further quantify genotype-environment behaviour and to measure response to the environment in which the plants were grown. Considerable variation in this character occurred and the correlation of mean yield and response was incomplete. Some of the genotypes combined the desirable characters of high mean yield and good response to improved environments, while others had high mean yields, but were not as well adapted to the highest N level.

In the experiment no significant effects could be traced to differences in age of seed, but plants which had been maintained vegetatively for 7 years showed reduced vigour.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alcock, M. B. & Morgan, E. W. (1966). The effect of frequency of defoliation on the yield of mixtures of S. 22 (diploid) and Tetra (tetraploid) Italian ryegrass in early establishment. Journal of the British Grassland Society 21, 62–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, A. D. (1965). Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Advances in Genetics 13, 115–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breese, E. L., Hayward, M. D. & Thomas, A. C. (1965). Somatic selection in perennial ryegrass. Heredity 20, 367–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breese, E. L. & Hayward, M. D. (1972). Genetic basis of present breeding methods in forage crops. Euphytica 21, 324–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breese, E. L. & Hill, J. (1973). Regression analysis of interactions between competing species. Heredity 31, 181200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, A. H. (1961). Differential survival of cultivars of Lolium, Dactylis and Phleum. Journal of the British Grassland Society 16, 6975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, A. H. (1966). Formation and maintenance of pastures. Journal of the British Grassland Society 21, 9396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, A. H. (1970). Ryegrass populations from intensively managed leys. I. Seedling and spaced plant characters. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75, 103107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, A. H. (1972). Ryegrass populations from intensively managed leys. III. Reaction to management, nitrogen application and Poa trivialis L. in field trials. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 79, 205–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, A. H. (1973). A comparison of ryegrass populations from intensively managed permanent pastures and leys. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 81, 99106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, D. R. (1961). Response of orchard grass clones to clipping frequency. Crop Science 1, 421–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlay, K. W. & Wilkinson, G. H. (1963). The analysis of adaptation in a plant breeding programme. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 14, 742–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, G. H. & Perkins, J. J. (1971). Environmental and genotype environmental components of variability. Heredity 27, 1523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, G. H. (1973). Statistical methods for the analysis of genotype-environment interactions. Heredity 31, 339–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, D. J. & Pegler, R. A. D. (1964). The effects of long term storage on the viability of S. 23 perennial ryegrass seed and on subsequent plant development. Journal of the British Grassland Society 19, 183–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, J. & Shimamoto, Y. (1973). Methods of analysing competition with special reference to herbage plants. I. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 81, 7789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazenby, A. & Rogers, H. H. (1964). Selection criteria in grass breeding. II. Effect on Lolium perenne of differences in population density, variety and available moisture. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 62, 285–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Libby, W. J. & Jund, E. (1962). Variance associated with cloning. Heredity 17, 533–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norrington-Davies, J. & Crowley, J. G. (1969). The effect of density and fertility on the competitive interactions of diploid and tetraploid ryegrass during early growth. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 8, 359–74.Google Scholar
Rhodes, I. (1969). The yield, canopy structure and light interception of two ryegrass varieties in mixed culture and monoculture. Journal of the British Grassland Society 24, 123–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salisbury, E. J. (1940). Ecological aspects of plant taxonomy contained. The New Systematics, 329–40.Google Scholar
Samuel, C. J. A., Hill, J., Breese, E. L. & Davies, A. (1970). Assessing and predicting environmental response in Lolium perenne. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75, 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troughton, A. (1970). Intra-varietal variation of yield in two variations of Lolium perenne L. Euphytica 19, 383–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittington, W. J. & O'Brian, T. A. (1968). A comparison of yields from plots sown with a single species on a mixture of grass species. Journal of Applied Ecology 5, 209–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, P. & Cochran, W. G. (1938). The analysis of groups of experiments. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 28, 556–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar