The effects of length of growing season, with and without defoliation, on seed yield and hard-seededness in swards of subterranean clover

Abstract

The effects of length of growing season and defoliation on seed yield and hard-seededness were examined in two strains of subterranean clover (Seaton Park, Midland B) grown in swards in the field. All plots were sown at the same time and the length of growing season was varied by altering the time of finish of the season (by withholding water). There were three length of growing season treatments: T1 (short), T2 (intermediate) and T3 (control). The defoliation treatments were D0, uncut (control), and D1, defoliated at weekly intervals until the commencement of flowering. Reducing the length of growing season drastically reduced seed yield. Thus when the growing season was only 3 weeks shorter than the control (i.e. T2 compared with T3), seed yields averaged over strains and defoliations were reduced by at least one half. With a further reduction of 2 weeks in the length of the season (T1) seed yields were only about one-third of those obtained in the control (T3). The reductions in seed yield were due to reductions in both the number of mature burrs produced and to a lesser extent in mean weight per seed. Although defoliation increased seed yield in all growing seasons, the effect when measured on a relative scale was greater in T2 than in either T1 or T3. But on an absolute scale the size of the response was greater in T2 and T3 than in T1. The rate of breakdown of hard-seededness was faster in Seaton Park than in Midland B, but it decreased in both strains with increasing length of growing season.