Study of red clover wild populations from the territory of Serbia for the purpose of pre-selection

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the agronomic value of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) wild populations. The analyzed material was gathered on the territory of Serbia and it was estimated which populations could be involved in the breeding program. 17 red clover populations were included in the research. Investigation was carried out at the experimental field of the Institute for forage crops, Krusevac, Serbia. The field trial was performed during three years (2008 - 2010) when data about morphological (green mass, dry mater, plant height, number of stems, number of lateral branches, number of internodes, length and width of a middle leaf lamina) and basic chemical parameters (quantity of crude proteins, crude fiber, ash, fat, NFE) were collected. In this paper, results of the research were processed by application of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariation methods. Cluster analysis based on morphological traits resulted in formation of three clusters and the traits with the largest influence on grouping were: green mass, plant height, length and width of a leaf. Principal component method confirmed this separation and resulted in even more clear grouping of populations. Cluster analysis and PCA method were also applied to the traits of dry matter quality, when four clusters were formed, and the traits with the largest influence on grouping were percentages of protein, fat and fiber. Using both set of traits and several types of analyses contribute to grouping of populations which promise most and whose positive traits such as: high green mass yield, number of stems as well as the percentage of proteins can be combined for the purpose of getting synthetic varieties.