FIELD ESTABLISHMENT
| Seeding................ |
Plants should be established in
rows using transplants (8-12 week old) or by direct
seeding and thinning. Procedures for greenhouse culture
of plants for transplanting are provided in the
procedures for fall dormancy determination (see fall
dormancy testing procedures, Ref 1 .). |
| Spacing................ |
30 cm between plants in rows 0.6 to 1.0
m apart. |
| No. of
plants......... |
25 per replication |
| No. of
reps............ |
4 minimum |
| Culture................. |
Maintain a high soil fertility, a soil pH
of 6.5 to 7.5, and adequate soil moisture. Minimize weed
and insect interference. Inoculate with Rhizobium
meliloti. |
RATING
Clip herbage using locally accepted schedules and rate
plants were vegetative in late summer. Multifoliolate
leaf (MF) expression on a per plant basis is visually
scored. The multifoliolate leaf expression score per
plant is based on an average of individual stems and on
number of MF leaves per stem:
| Score |
|
Description |
| 0 |
= |
all trifoliolate leaves |
| 1 |
= |
1 MF leaf/stem |
| 2 |
= |
2-3 MF leaves/stem |
| 3 |
= |
4-5 MF leaves/stem |
| 4 |
= |
6-7 MF leaves/stem |
| 5 |
= |
8+ MF leaves/stem |
CALCULATIONS
MF Expression Index... A MF expression index
(MFI) is calculated as the sum of the product of the
number (N*) of plants which are in each MF category over
the total number of plants in a population:
MFI={Sum[(N*1xl)+(N*2x2)+(N*3x3)+(N*4x4)
+(N*5x5)]}/
[Total N* plants in population]
Both the MFI value and the percentage of plants with
MF expression (those plants scoring 1 to 5) should be
provided when describing experimental germplasm and
cultivars.
CHECK CULTIVARS
| Category |
Cultivar |
MFI |
Acceptable
Range |
| Trifoliolate |
Vernal |
1.00 |
1.00-1.05 |
| Low MF |
Legend |
1.86 |
1.40-2.40 |
| Moderate MF |
MultiKing I |
2.55 |
2.00-3.00 |
| High MF |
Proof |
3.35 |
2.80-3.80 |
SCIENTISTS WITH EXPERTISE
Name............ Craig C. Sheaffer
Address......... Dept of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
411 Borlaug Hall
University of Minnesota St.Paul,MN
55108
Phone.............612-625-7225
Name.............J. J. Volenec
Address..........Departrnent of Agronomy
Lilly Hall of Life Sciences
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Phone.............317-494-8071
REFERENCES
1. Barnes, D.K., D.M. Srnith, L.R. Tueber, and M.A.
Peterson. 1991. Fall dormancy. In C.C. Fox et al.,
(ed) Standard tests to characterize alfalfa cultivars.
North American Alfalfa Improvement conf.
2. Juan, N.A., C.C. Sheaffer, and D.K. Barnes. 1993.
Temperature and photoperiod effects on multifoliolate
expression and morphology of alfalfa. Crop Sci.
33:573-578.
3. Etzel, M.G., J.J. Volenec, and J.J. Vorst. 1988. Leaf
morphology, shoot growth, and gas exchange of
multifoliolate alfalfa phenotypes. Crop Sci. 28:263-269.
4. Volenec, J.J., and J.H. Cherney. 1990. Yield
components, morphology, and forage quality of multi-
foliolate alfalfa phenotypes. Crop Sci. 30:1234-1238.
|