Phenotypic and genotypic variability between and within Improved populations of berseem clover : Trifolium alexandrinum L. / Waleed Mohamed Mohamed Eldebeiky ; Supervised Mohamed Elsayed Radwan , Korany Ismail Abdelgawad , Mohamed Sanaa Hassan

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Agronomy

Two field experiments were carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt, during the two successive growing seasons of 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. The objective of these experiments was to studying the effect of two plant densities (spaced and dense planting) on the estimation of genetic parameters of some growth and yield characteristics of three berseem clover populations. Mean squares due to plant densities from combined analysis of variance were highly significant for plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per plant, stem diameter, leaf/stem ratio, leaf area and seasonal dry forage yield plant-1, 1000- seed weight, seed yield, crude protein, crude fiber and ash. Analysis of variance under spaced and dense planting indicated highly significant differences among populations for all studied traits in both seasons. Highly significant differences due to populations by plant densities interaction were also observed for all studied traits except plant height and leaf area. Plant height and leaf area were not affected by environmental factors therefore, breeders of berseem clover should consider these two characters in formulating their breeding programs when selection for yield. Results revealed that Hatour population possessed the tallest plants and showed the highest values for number of tillers and leaves, leaf/stem ratio, leaf area, seasonal dry forage yield plant-1, seed yield and crude fiber. However, Narmer had the highest values for stem diameter

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