The effect of some environmental conditions on seed development and hard-seededness in subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.)

Abstract

Subterranean clover (cv. Daliak) was grown in boxes with provision for unrestricted lateral growth. At the commencement of flowering, plants were allocated to three day/night temperature regimes of 12/7°, 18/13° and 24/19°C in controlled-temperature glasshouses and well watered until maturity (unstressed). In two additional treatments at 18/13°, plants were either subjected to intermittent moisture stress throughout the flowering period (stressed) or well watered for the first 6 weeks of flowering and then allowed to dry out (droughted).

Increasing temperature resulted in more rapid inflorescence production, seed development and earlier plant maturation. The overall mean seed size was lower at 24/19° than at the other two temperatures. The stressed and droughted treatments produced fewer and smaller seeds than the corresponding unstressed treatment.

There was a small effect of temperature on the degree of hard-seededness as determined from the mean softening time of seed subjected to daily alternating temperatures of 60/15°. Softening time was not significantly affected by watering treatments. There were small differences in softening time due to the position of the burr on the lateral, with a slight trend for seeds from the first-formed burrs to soften more rapidly. Most of the variation in softening time between seeds was due to variation within burrs. The sequence of seed softening within burrs was related to seed size, the larger seeds generally softening first, but no single regression could be used to describe this relationship for different burr positions or treatments. The absence of major treatment effects on the degree of hard-seededness indicates that varying the length of the seed development period does not necessarily result in differences in hard-seededness, as has been suggested from field experiments.