MORPHOLOGICAL-CHARACTERISTICS OF HYBRIDS BETWEEN WHITE CLOVER, TRIFOLIUM-REPENS L., AND CAUCASIAN CLOVER, TRIFOLIUM-AMBIGUUM M. BIEB

Hybrids between the stoloniferous Trifolium repens(2n = 4x = 32) and t he rhizomatous Trifolium ambiguum (2n = 4x = 32) have been produced us ing T. repens as the recurrent parent. Morphological characteristics o f the parent species and the F-1, BC1, BC2 and BC3 hybrids were examin ed in a glasshouse experiment. Leaflet ratios and general plant shape indicated that the BC3 hybrid was similar to T. repens. Separation of plants into components of above- and below-ground growth showed that T . repens had a greater total plant dry weight than T. ambiguum but 24% of its dry weight was in roots compared with 22% in roots and 44% in rhizomes in T. ambiguum. The BC3 generation contained plants that were predominantly T. repens-like with stolons, but also had a small propo rtion of their total dry weight (3%) as rhizome, confirming the potent ial to produce plants that combine stoloniferous and rhizomatous growt h. The proportions of rhizome and stolen varied within the BC3 generat ion, enabling further selection and plant breeding. The BC3 hybrids pr oduced similar numbers of inflorescences to T. repens however, fertili ty was lower, although there was some variation within the BC3 for bot h characters.