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Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Branching in Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

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Abstract

Clover is an essential element of sustainable grasslands. Clover reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer and results in improved nutritional value of grasslands. Plant architecture, which is under genetic and environmental control, may have a strong influence on traits such as forage yield, re-growth capacity, seed yield and persistence in red clover. The genetic aspect of branching has been widely studied in model plants but has received little attention in red clover. Our present aim is to translate the knowledge regarding genes involved in bud outgrowth from model plants to red clover. Branching was studied in two environments during one growing season in clonal replicates of two genotypes with contrasting architecture, a highly branched and prostrate genotype (Crossway_2), and a poorly branched and erect genotype (Diplomat_8). The number of nodes and the quantity as well as the position of bud outgrowth into branches differed greatly between genotypes and were similar across both environments. The influence of auxin and strigolactone on bud outgrowth was investigated by applying these hormones to isolated single node segments. Furthermore, genes from the strigolactone pathway were isolated from red clover and their expression was studied in various tissues of the two genotypes.

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Correspondence to G. Cnops .

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Van Minnebruggen, A., Roldan-Ruiz, I., Van Dingenen, J., Van Bockstaele, E., Rohde, A., Cnops, G. (2013). Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Branching in Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). In: Barth, S., Milbourne, D. (eds) Breeding strategies for sustainable forage and turf grass improvement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4555-1_20

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