New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

---

Germplasm release¹
‘GFT188’ 5-leaflet red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

W. Rumball

R. B. Claydon

A. G. Foote

AgResearch Grasslands
Private Bag 11008
Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
bill.rumball@agresearch.co.nz

Keywords germplasm release, 5-leaflet red clover, Trifolium pratense L.

‘GFT188’ red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) was bred from the tetraploid New Zealand pasture cultivar ‘Grasslands Pawera’, and virtually all plants contain a very high proportion of leaves with five leaflets instead of the usual three. The project was opportunistic—a related project aimed at developing a red clover cultivar with very high levels of phyto-oestrogen isoflavones used ‘Pawera’ as the starting base for breeding, and during this project two ‘Pawera’ plants were observed that had 10–20% of leaves containing four leaflets. It was conjectured that selection to increase this feature might add value to red clover both as a medicinal and a pasture plant—and also as a “lucky charm”.

¹Each germplasm is the product of a completed or significant breeding programme, but the breeders are not seeking Plant Variety Rights. Germplasms are available as “concept cultivars”, intended as research materials or for further localised breeding programmes. Request for seed should be made to the corresponding author. Germplasm releases are not fully refereed.

A08027; Online publication date 11 August 2008;Received 21 May 2008; accepted 29 May 2008

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2008, Vol. 51: 269–270
028–8233/08/5103–0269 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008

PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (661K) | screen-quality (278K)