Importance of Hard Seed in Forage Legumes Produced in Uruguay

Authors

  • Federico Boschi Instituto Nacional de Semillas (INASE). Camino Bertolotti y Ruta 8, km 29, Barros Blancos, Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Pablo Latorre Universidad de la República, Facultad de Agronomía, Uruguay. Garzón 810, 12900 Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Sylvia Saldanha Universidad de la República, Facultad de Agronomía, Departamento de Producción Animal y Pasturas. Estación Experimental de Facultad de Agronomía en Salto
  • Jorge Machado Instituto Nacional de Semillas (INASE). Camino Bertolotti y Ruta 8, km 29, Barros Blancos, Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Oscar Bentancur Universidad de la República, Facultad de Agronomía, Departamento de Biometría y Estadística. Estación Experimental Mario A. Cassinoni, Paysandú

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31285/AGRO.20.2.7

Keywords:

seeds, hard seeds, emergence, legumes, forage

Abstract

Forage legumes, especially red clover, white clover, alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil, are the basis of cultivated multiannual grassland livestock production in Uruguay. Germination percentage for these species in the laboratory corresponds to the sum of the normal seedlings and the hard seeds. Seed lots sold in the country indicate the minimum percentage of germination and physical purity of the lot on the label. The overall objective of this study was to analyze the importance of hard seeds in national commercial lots of forage legumes. The results of 647 laboratory analysis at INASE of three years (2009, 2010 and 2011) were used, and two emergency field trials were carried out: «hard» and «total» seeds. The interaction species x year (p < 0.0001) in the percentage of hard seeds was significant in lots studied. There were no significant differences in the emergence of hard seeds due to the high or low proportion of hard seeds in the lot for any evaluated date, but there were significant differences between species in the emergency. The number of alfalfa seedlings was higher than other species in the first 30 days after planting. At 90 days after planting, red clover still had the lowest plant emergence in relation to other species. The results induce further study of this feature for each legume species, since it differs in its actions as a survival mechanism.

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Published

2016-12-01

How to Cite

1.
Boschi F, Latorre P, Saldanha S, Machado J, Bentancur O. Importance of Hard Seed in Forage Legumes Produced in Uruguay. Agrocienc Urug [Internet]. 2016 Dec. 1 [cited 2024 Mar. 28];20(2):43-50. Available from: https://agrocienciauruguay.uy/index.php/agrociencia/article/view/193

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Section

Plant production
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