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Morphological and agronomic characteristics of Croatian red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) breeding populations tolerant to abiotic stress

Red clover (Trifolium pretense L.) is a temperate species originated from Southeast Europe and Asia Minor near the Mediterranean Sea (Taylor and Quesenberry, 1996). It is a short-lived perennial diploid species with seven pairs of chromosomes (Taylor and Quesenberry, 1996), insect pollinated and self incompatible. Red clover can be grown across a wide range of soil types, pH levels, and environmental conditions, and gives good yields in areas not suitable for growing alfalfa (Smith et al., 1985). Knowledge of the amount and distribution of genetic variability within species is crucial for breeders when selecting breeding germplasm (Muntean and Savatti, 2003). Genetic variation is frequently estimated using morphophysiological characters, which often show multigenic inheritance with strong environmental modification (Kölliker et al., 2001). Tolerance of field crop to abiotic stress, such as drought and cold tolerance (Peter et al., 2006 ; Pepo et al., 2006 ; Czı vek et al., 2006) is of primary importance for sustainable crop production in stress environment. Tolerance to abiotic stresses in red clover was analysed in few studies (Nowak et al., 1992 ; Nelke et al., 1999). Red clover is the most important fodder crop in north-western region of Croatia where climate is humid, soils shallow and wet, and vegetation period short (Gagro, 1998). Due to small producing input and multiplied gain, red clover gets more on its importance in sustainable agricultural production where the complete producing cycle tends to be included within the land and facilities of one farm. Main objective of this research was to estimate variations in morphological and agronomic characteristics among red clover breeding populations tolerant to abiotic stress developed at the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb during the last ten years.

red clover; breeding populations; morphological traits; agronomic traits; abiotic stress

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