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White Clover Seed Germination in Agar Containing Tall Fescue Leaf Extracts 1
Author(s) -
Pederson G. A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1986.0011183x002600060036x
Subject(s) - germination , biology , trifolium repens , festuca arundinacea , allelopathy , agar , agar plate , agronomy , botany , horticulture , poaceae , genetics , bacteria
Studies of allelopathic effects on germination have commonly used filter paper moistened with plant extracts as a germination medium. In our laboratory, this method gave inconsistent results due to nonuniform wetting or localized swelling of the paper. The objective of this study was to develop a method using agar as the germination medium to test ‘Star’ and ‘Tillman’ white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) for germination and growth in tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) leaf extracts containing 0, 100, 200, and 300 g leaves L −1 water. White clover root length score decreased from 3.55 to 2.01 (on a 1 to 5 scale) with increasing rates of tall fescue leaf extract in agar. No consistent relationship between extract rate and root length was observed using germination paper. Coefficients of variation for root length of Star and Tillman were 6.8 and 5.6 on agar and 21.9 and 15.8 on germination paper. The extract agar method should be useful in studies of allelopathic effects on germination and initial growth of other plant species.