Inheritance of growth habit-related attributes in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

There are two divergent types of red clover, prostrate and erect, Prostrate ness Of the first type may be helpful in changing the architecture of comme rcial cultivars to increase their persistence. Generation mean experiments were carried out to investigate the function and number of genes controllin g the two growth habit-related attributes, prostrateness and stem thickness , in red clover. To achieve these estimates, two pairs of parent plants (on e erect and one prostrate in each pair) were used to produce F-1, F-2, BC1, and BC2 populations. Three-parameter, six-parameter, and best-fit models w ere presented for each attribute. Prostrateness was partially dominant to e rectness. Thick stems were partially to completely dominant to thin stems. There was strong evidence for dominance x dominance epistasis controlling p rostrateness and additive x additive epistasis controlling stem thickness. Both characters seemed to be controlled by few genes.