Effects of Competition upon the Productivity of White Clover-Perennial Ryegrass Mixtures. Analysis of and Interrelations between Characters

A diallel crossing programme amongst tour contrasting white clover varieties was used to generate material for studying the interrelationships amongst those characters which affect the productivity of white clover- perennial ryegrass mixtures under a cutting-only management regime. Such a regime favoured clover growth. All the clover characters exhibited strong positive correlations with mixture yield. However, this combination of clover characters did not promote growth of the grass companion. For this a low growing variety with a dense stolon network appeared preferable. Path analysis indicated that differences existed between the two companion grass varieties used for this experiment in their upon clover characters.