The effect of defoliation on seed yield of two strains of subterranean clover grown in monocultures and in binary mixtures

Abstract

The effect of defoliation on seed production was examined in swards of Seaton Park and Midland B grown in a de Wit replacement series in the field. The three defoliation treatments were: D0, uncut (control); D1, defoliated at weekly intervals until the beginning of flowering; and D3, as for D1 but with cutting continued until the end of flowering. Defoliation up to the commencement of flowering (D1) had no significant effect on seed yield in the monocultures of either strain. However, with severe defoliation (D3) seed yields were reduced in both strains, although more so in Midland B than in Seaton Park. This greater sensitivity of Midland B supports the results of earlier work. The most important finding from this study was that cutting influenced the competitive relations between the two strains. For both the D0 and D1 treatments there was competition for the same resources ('space' of de Wit); in D0 neither strain had a competitive advantage, whereas in D1 Midland B appeared to be the better competitor. By contrast, in the D3 treatment there was the relatively unusual case of competition for resources which were not entirely the same; and here Seaton Park was the better performer. Possible explanations for this response are suggested.