The effect of leaf removal on flowering time in subterranean clover

Abstract

The removal of fully expanded leaves delayed flowering by up to 30 days in subterranean clover cv. Mt. Barker sown in winter at Melbourne (38¦S.). This effect on flowering was attributable partly to a delay in flower initiation and partly to a slower rate of leaf appearance after flower initiation. Thus leaf removal may be added to the factors already known to influence flower initiation in subterranean clover. When plants were grown under a 24 hr photoperiod. leaf removal had no effect on flower initiation; the slight delay that leaf removal caused in flowering was therefore due entirely to its effect in reducing the rate of leaf appearance. In other experiments leaf removal delayed the time of flower initiation but had no effect on the rate of leaf appearance. The effect of leaf removal on the time of flowering on the main shoot in lateral-dominant plants (as occur in the field) was qualitatively the same as in plants from which the laterals had been removed. Grazing management of subterranean clover which results in severe defoliation during early growth may delay flowering to such an extent that seed production is reduced substantially, and persistence thereby prejudiced.