| Abstract: | Analysis of a half diallel cross among four white clover cultivars, grown as monocultures and in mixtures (duocultures) with two separate perennial rye-grass cultivars, confirmed that for stolon and leaf number a higher proportion of the genetic variance in duocultures was non-additive. For canopy height and dry weight, however, this proportion was less affected by inter-specific competition. An additive-dominance model of gene action sufficed for all four characters in monocultures, but in duocultures epis-tasis was just one of the factors complicating the genetic picture. This, coupled with short-term reversals in the direction of dominance, merely illustrates the complexity of breeding white clover cultivars. Possible future developments in the breeding of white clover are discussed in the light of these results. |
