Evaluation of berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) germplasm in Sardinia, Italy

Abstract

Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) is an annual forage legume widely cultivated in central, southern and insular regions of Italy. For decades, the Miskawi-type variety Sacromonte was the most widespread throughout Italy, while in recent years several new varieties have been released. The aims of this study were: i) to expand our knowledge about forage and seed yields of a set of varieties grown in two consecutive years (October-July cycle) in a Mediterranean environment in Sardinia; and ii) to evaluate three experimental strains originating from traditional germplasm. Although marked differences were observed among varieties and between years, berseem clover proved to be a valuable forage resource, with great potential for exploitation also during the cold season. Under moderately favorable rainfed conditions (>160 mm spring rainfall), the best materials were also able to provide good seed yield with no supplementary irrigation and after an intensive exploitation of the crop for forage. The oldest variety, Sacromonte, still proved the best performing one in terms of forage yield over the years. Results of some newly released varieties were not as satisfactory, suggesting that the adopted selection criteria and/or the selection environments were not completely appropriate for the test conditions, which were representative of common conditions in peninsular and insular regions of Italy. On the other hand, the trend towards higher yield levels of one experimental strain as an effect of specific adaptation to the growing environment, and the outstanding seed yield of the two other experimental strains, which had also been selected for this character, suggest that it may still be possible to obtain some selection gain from traditional germplasm by targeting well-defined growing environments and adopting specific selection criteria. © Copyright L. Pecetti et al., 2012.